Sea Life Park, feeling the pinch of a slumping tourism industry, said yesterday it will lay off 44 full- and part-time employees.

Park general manager Jesus Bravo said the layoffs are in response to a decline in park attendance stemming from the downturn in visitor arrivals.

Tourist traffic to Hawai'i has slowed sharply this year, mainly because of the slowing U.S. economy, higher airfares and the shutdown of two airlines that served the Islands.

The 44-year-old Sea Life Park had 220 employees at the end of June.

"Among the laid-off employees are temporary hires for the peak summer months who would normally have been kept on until the end of August," Bravo said in a written statement.

The company declined to provide a breakdown of seasonal hires versus long-term employees.

"These are all good employees, but unfortunately, given the loss in revenues, we have no option but to cut back on operating costs," he said. "We are saddened to have to take this step."

In March, the Makapu'u attraction was sold to Parques Reunidos Group, one of the world's largest amusement park companies.

Parques Reunidos, which is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, bought Sea Life Park from Dolphin Discovery, a Mexico-based company that had owned the 22-acre attraction since January 2005.

Dolphin Discovery renovated the aging park and expanded the dolphin interaction program.

The previous program consisted of a dockside encounter in which customers were allowed to touch dolphins and give them commands at a price of $69 for adults. The new program allows for much closer encounters, including one in which two dolphins give customers a ride at a cost of $199.

The park has been running a discount geared to Hawai'i residents since the June birth of a new sea lion pup as part of an effort to bring in more business.

State officials reported on Tuesday that total visitor arrivals fell 14.2 percent in June.

The report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism also showed that visitor spending fell 13.5 percent to $982 million in June.