A smattering of rooms for this weekend remained available at Hilo's two largest hotels as of late yesterday, the first time that's happened during Merrie Monarch Festival week in recent memory.

But East Hawai'i officials and merchants said they're still confident the world's premier hula festival will be able to shrug off any negative impacts from the global recession and once again be the economic boon it's been for the region since its inception 46 years ago.

"We're not as busy as I recall in past years," said Gwen Kitamura, co-owner of Itsu's Fishing Supplies, known more for its "ice shave" and gravy burgers than its bait and tackle.

Kitamura said she typically sees a doubling of sales during Merrie Monarch week, and she is optimistic the demand for Korean fried chicken plates and sweet, colored popcorn would pick up as the weekend approached.

While the weeklong hula and Hawaiian culture extravaganza held its first events on Sunday, the focus of the festival does not begin until tonight when the three-night competition at Edith K. Kanaka'ole Multi-purpose Stadium kicks off with the Miss Aloha Hula contest.

Tomorrow night, 27 sets of performers representing 23 halau take the stage with hula kahiko, the ancient style of dancing. The same groups will dance hula 'auana, the modern style, on Saturday night.

What's certain is that the competition is sold out again with holders of the precious tickets coming not just from Japan, where hula has been wildly popular in recent years, but as far away as South America and Europe. Fans are also continuing to come from all over. The festival's assistant director, Luana Kawelu, said that yesterday she received greetings from people as far away as the Netherlands, Argentina and Panama.

WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE

The invitation-only Merrie Monarch Festival is the undisputed Super Bowl of hula. The event is named after King David Kalakaua, who is widely credited with bringing hula back to the forefront after Western missionaries forbade it. It is not only televised live over three nights in Hawai'i, but viewed by thousands of other hula enthusiasts internationally who watch streaming video over the Internet.

Of the 23 halau in the competition this year, four are participating in both the wahine and kane divisions. Two are coming from California and one from Nevada.

Tickets for the festival have sold out annually for as long as anyone can remember, and this year was no different.

As they did last year, organizers had a policy in place of accepting requests for tickets no earlier than Dec. 26, said Kawelu, who in recent years has taken over day-to-day management of the event from her mother, Merrie Monarch co-founder Doris "Aunty Dottie" Thompson.

Hula enthusiasts were eligible for the roughly 2,100 available public seats for each night's performances, Kawelu said. (The other half of the tickets for the 4,200-capacity stadium are reserved for halau and support people.)

SOME VACANCIES

Officials with both the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort and Castle Hilo Hawaiian Hotel said late cancellations left them with a small number of vacancies as of yesterday but both expected to sell out by today.

Naniloa assistant general manager Chian Hsu said that, as usual, many rooms this week are filled by visitors from Japan who come with about 15 Japanese tour companies that made reservations far in advance.

This year, however, three of those tour companies returned about 10 to 15 rooms citing economic concerns in Japan, Hsu said. Ongoing renovations have reduced the number of available rooms at the Naniloa from about 325 to 200.

The situation was similar at the Hilo Hawaiian next door. Alan Mattson, president and chief operating officer for Castle Resorts and Hotels, said about seven rooms remained vacant as of yesterday and he expected them to be sold by early today.

Cancellations are normal, he said, especially since people may book rooms far in advance only to discover they couldn't get tickets to the festival. "The thing that was different this year was that our wait list was significantly shorter, which tells us demand has dropped off a bit," Mattson said.

This year's cancellations at the 286-room Hilo Hawaiian have been coming from a mix of people from Japan and the Mainland, he said.

Kawelu said she'd heard that several halau trying to save money by opting for bed-and-breakfast accommodations this year rather than stay at Banyan Drive hotels.

CAR RENTALS BUSY

Cora Kua, manager of the Hilo Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental at the Hilo International Airport, said if anything, "I think it's a little bit busier for us than last year." As in previous years, vehicles need to be brought in from the Kona side of the island.

Business was brisk as usual at Big Island Candies, the mecca of Hilo take-home goodies that's several blocks away from the festival. Retail operations manager Lance Duyao said despite the economic woes, "people are still going to shop for their omiyage for family and friends back home — and themselves."

Merrie Monarch week is a huge part of annual sales for many Hilo retailers, he said. "For many businesses, it's actually stronger than Christmas."

Randy Kuruhara, Hawai'i County's research and development director, said Hilo's economy has not been as hurt by the slumping economy as other areas of the state. Because nearly 20 percent of the jobs there are government-based, the economy in the state's fourth-largest city is not as susceptible to economic fluctuations as other regions that may be more dependent on tourism or construction, he said.