July 7, 2009 - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii

The numbers are out for June visits to the National Parks in Hawaii, and only the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island saw an increase.

Overall, there were 364,979 visitors to national park locations in Hawaii in the month of June, according to data from the National Park Service. That's down 34,547 - 8.6 percent - from 399,526 in June 2008.

However, the number of visitors to the volcano was up 4.5 percent from 109,068 in 2008 compared with 113,991 visitors this year.

By comparison, the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument on Oahu (which includes the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor) is normally regarded as Hawaii’s top tourist attraction. Yet, with a nearly 20 percent decline (130,745 visitors in 2008 to 104,489), the Volcano National Park was actually a more visited destination.

Other national sites on the Big Island, like Puuhonua o Honaunau and Kaloko Honokohau experienced little change, but Puukohola Heiau was down 3.6 percent from 6,411 last June to 6,183 visitors this year.

Part of the spike in visitors to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park may be attributed to the stunning glow at the summit of Kilauea, which made international headlines and extended the hours at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory overlook in order to accommodate the increase in interest.

However, July may experience a different trend in numbers, if the summit vent is any indicator. In daily eruption activity updates, HVO is reporting that there is no longer a glow coming from Halema`uma`u crater.