Thousands of artisans and performers from across Japan, Taiwan, Australia, the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands will come to Honolulu next week to participate in the 13th-annual Honolulu Festival.

Tourism officials hope the cultural festival, held March 9-11, will help draw and appeal to more Japanese visitors, whose numbers have been falling for more than a year. The Hawai'i Tourism Authority, which markets Hawai'i as a destination, has given the Honolulu Festival Foundation $200,000 this year.

More than 49,000 people, including 21,800 visitors, attended Honolulu Festival events last year, said authority product development manager Robbie Kane. About 5,400 Japanese performers and spectators came to Hawai'i for the 2006 festival and pumped about $9.8 million in visitor spending into the economy, she said.

This year's Honolulu Festival will include aboriginal dance performances, cultural demonstrations and a parade through Waikiki. Among the highlights is a cultural exchange seminar entitled "Building Friendships by Playing Hardball," which looks at the role baseball played as a cultural link between the United States and Japan.

"This year's theme, "Pacific Renaissance," goes hand in hand with the revitalization efforts in Waikiki," said David Asanuma, executive director of the Hono-lulu Festival Foundation, which organizes the Honolulu Festival. "Just as Waikiki attracts visitors from around the world, the Honolulu Festival brings together cultures from across the Pacific and enables them to share their heritage with each other while promoting goodwill and friendship."

Entertainment and demonstrations will be held at the Hawai'i Convention Center, Ala Moana Center and Outrigger Enterprises Group's new Waikiki Beach Walk. All events will be free and open to the public.

Honolulu Festival events include: