One sign of Hawaiʻi's tourism recovery following the pandemic is the number of Japanese runners who have signed up for this weekend's Honolulu Marathon. Japanese participation in the premier race is almost double what it was last year.
Dr. Jim Barahal, the president of the Honolulu Marathon, talked to The Conversation about the encouraging numbers on this 51st run of the people's race.
Before the pandemic in 2019, over 15,000 runners came from Japan. Barahal said that in 2022, there were only about 5,200.
This year, the number is on its way back up with 9,600 registered Japanese runners.
"Definitely almost doubling the Japanese participants from last year in a very difficult economic environment for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the exchange rate, which is extremely high. The yen is weak, and so that is definitely affecting things," he said.
Barahal said he hopes the return of Japanese runners is a harbinger of things to come for the tourism industry.
"We think Japanese tourism is incredibly important from an economic point of view, and the fact that they're great visitors. They respect the land, they respect the culture, they respect the people of Hawaiʻi — you couldn't have a better group of visitors."
He said race officials expect to have about 29,000 entered runners across the three racing events this weekend. The Honolulu Marathon kicks off at 5 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10. Those along the race route should be aware of road closures.
The first-place medals, manufactured by new race sponsor SGC of Japan, will be solid gold for the first time.
This story aired on The Conversation on Dec. 7, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
