For Immediate Release: May 23, 2003
DBEDT Release News 03-24

Note: April 2003 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

Honolulu--Total visitor days by those who arrived by air for April 2003 rose 15.0 percent compared to the same month last year, according to data released by DBEDT today. The increase was due to a longer average length of stay by visitors who came during the month (+14.2% to 9.84 days) and a growth in domestic visitor arrivals that offset a decline in the international segment.

"We are very pleased by the performance of the domestic sector, Hawaii's primary market, which contributed 78.4 percent of the April visitor count for the State," said DBEDT Director Theodore E. Liu. "The April increase was a welcomed contrast to previous trends during the month following the 1991 war with Iraq and the month after the September 11, 2001 attack."

Year-to-date, total visitor days was 8.0 percent higher compared to the same period last year due to the growth in visitor arrivals (+1.5%) and a longer average length of stay (+6.4% to 9.90 days).

Visitors Arriving on Domestic Flights

Domestic visitor days, compiled from flights originating in U.S. cities, jumped 24.1 percent in April 2003, due to a 12.2 percent increase in visitor arrivals and a longer average length of stay (+10.5% to 10.40 days). Domestic visitor days (+9.6%) and visitor arrivals (+3.4%) for the first four months of 2003 remained higher than the same period last year

The U.S. market, which accounted for 92.4 percent of all domestic visitors during April, rose 13.1 percent from April a year ago. Lower arrivals from Oregon (-11.5%), New England (-6.2%) and the West South Central region (-0.5%), were offset by arrival growth from California (+24.2%), Washington (+1.0%), the Mountain region (+4.1%), the West North Central region (+5.1%), the East North Central region (+17.5%), the East South Central region (+12.8%), the Middle Atlantic region (+25.8%) and the South Atlantic region (+11.4%).

All islands experienced higher domestic visitations during the month. Year-to-date, visitations declined on Oahu (-3.2%) but increased on Molokai (+58.4%), Lanai (+13.0%), Maui (+10.5%), Kauai (+4.7%) and the Big Island (+2.8%).

Fewer domestic visitors came for corporate meetings in April 2003 but more came to vacation (+20.9%), for conventions (+30.0%), incentives (+27.5%), to visit friends or relatives (+29.5%) and for other business (+17.8%). Repeat visitors comprised 66.9 percent of all domestic visitors to the islands, compared to 65.9 percent in the same month last year.

A new breakdown of visitors by purpose of trip was added this year. Data show that 16,180 domestic visitors honeymooned in the islands, 4,603 got married while 2,894 attended or participated in sporting events this April. Year-to-date, 52,475 visitors came to honeymoon, 15,948 got married and 25,324 participated or attended sporting events in Hawaii.

Visitors Arriving on International Flights

International visitor days, compiled from flights originating outside the U.S., decreased 15.0 percent in April 2003 due to a decline in visitor arrivals (-26.6%) which offset a longer average length of stay (+15.9% to 7.80 days). Year-to-date, lower visitor arrivals (-2.7%) was negated by a longer length of stay (5.8% to 7.59 days) resulting in a 2.9 percent increase in total visitor days.

Except for growth in visitations to Lanai (+120.1%) and Molokai (+84.6%) all other islands reported lower international arrivals during the month. Visitor arrivals to Maui (+5.5%) and Lanai (+97.6%) continued to increase on a year-to-date basis.

Repeat visitors accounted for 52.9 percent of all international visitors in April 2003, up from 50.3 percent in the same month last year. Fewer international visitors came to vacation (-28.1%), to visit friends and relatives (-4.4%), for conventions (-12.6%), for corporate meetings (-77.5%) and for other business (-44.6%) but more where here for incentives (+17.0%) compared to last April.

A total of 13,201 visitors honeymooned in the islands during the month, 13,593 got married while 2,054 participated or attended sports events. Year-to-date 59,216 visitors came to honeymoon, 53,536 got married and 10,099 participated or attended sports events.

Island Highlights

Compared to the previous April, visitor arrivals by air increased on Molokai (+59.4%), Maui (+17.9%), Lanai (+14.9%), Kauai (+5.2%) and the Big Island (+2.2%) but declined on Oahu (-10.3%).

Domestic visitors during April 2003 stayed the longest on Molokai at 10.36 days +154.5%), followed by Lanai at 9.22 days (+140.1%), Oahu at 7.89 days (+10.5%), Maui at 7.59 days (+11.8%), the Big Island at 7.57 days (+12.6%) and Kauai at 7.37 days (+17.4%).

International visitors stayed the longest on Maui at 7.28 days (+45.6%), followed by Oahu at 6.27 days (+8.5%), Kauai at 6.06 days (+83.8%), the Big Island at 5.05 days (+19.7%), Molokai at 3.39 days (+112.5%) and Lanai at 3.15 days (+41.1%)

Year-to-date, visitations to Oahu fell 3.2 percent while arrivals on Lanai (+22.9%), Molokai (+16.9%), Maui (+9.5%), the Big Island (+0.6%) and Kauai (+0.4%) increased.

Characteristics of Visitors Who Came by Air

The total number of visitors who vacationed in the islands during April 2003 rose 6.6 percent compared to the same month last year. More visitors also came to visit friends or relatives (+24.6), for incentives (+25.9%) and to attend conventions (+21.9%). A few notable events that took place during the month were the IBM Global Golden Circles and the National Life conferences.

A total of 29,381 visitors honeymooned in the islands during the month, 18,196 got married and 4,948 attended or participated in sporting events. Year-to-date, there were 111,691 honeymooners, 69,484 got married and 35,423 attended or participated in sporting events.

Hotels continue to be the most popular choice for lodging, accommodating 65.5 percent of all visitors during April, but the number of visitors who stayed in hotels dropped 3.3 percent compared to the same month last year. More visitors stayed in condominium units (+26.3%), timeshare properties (+12.3%) or with friends or relatives (+2.7%) than in the previous April.

Repeat visitors to Hawaii accounted for 63.9 percent of the total visitors during the month compared to 61.3 percent in April 2002. Year-to-date, Repeat visitors averaged 63.5 percent, virtually unchanged from the same period last year.

U.S. West Visitors Who Came By Air

Growth in visitor arrivals (+13.8%) and a longer average length of stay (+12.3% to 10.30 days) contributed to a 27.8 percent jump in visitor days for April 2003. Year-to-date, visitor days rose 8.2 percent while visitor arrivals increased 2.4 percent from the previous year. The average length of stay was 10.50 days on a year-to-date basis.

A total of 225,709 visitors from the U.S. West came to the islands during the month, 78.2 percent of whom were repeat visitors, compared to 76.1 percent a year ago. Fewer visitors came for corporate meetings (-11.5%) but more came to vacation (+21.7%), to visit friends or relatives (+27.2%), for conventions (+36.9%) and incentives (+11.2%) compared to last April.

A total of 6,978 U.S. West visitors honeymooned in the islands, 2,329 got married in Hawaii and 2,383 participated in or attended sporting events. Year-to-date there were 23,054 honeymooners, 7,935 got married and 13,097 were here for sporting events.

All islands experienced growth in visitor arrivals from the U.S. West in April 2003. Except for Oahu (-6.5%) and the Big Island (-0.3%) which reported lower arrivals from the U.S. West, visitations rose on Molokai (+80.4%), Lanai (+24.5%), Maui (+12.0%) and Kauai (+6.0%) on a year-to-date basis.

U.S. East Visitors Who Came By Air

Visitor days from the U.S. East increased 23.1 percent in April 2003 compared to same month last year thanks to growth in arrivals (+11.0%) and a longer average length of stay (+11.0% to 10.46 days). Year-to-date, U.S. East visitor days rose 11.2 percent while visitor arrivals increased 3.0 percent.

Over half (50.5%) of the 129,069 U.S. East visitors who came during the month were repeat visitors to the islands compared to 51.3 percent last April. Visitors here for vacation (+21.4%), for conventions (+26.2%), incentives (+37.0%) and to visit friends or relatives (+30.4%) increased from April 2002. There were 7,773 honeymooners in the islands from the U.S. East. In addition 1,855 came to get married and 309 attended or participated in sporting events.

Except for Lanai (-13.8%) all other islands experienced growth in visitor arrivals from the U.S. East during the month. Year-to-date visitations declined on Oahu (-1.2%) but increased on Molokai (+39.9%), Maui (+5.7%), the Big Island (+5.3%), Lanai (+4.2%) and Kauai (+1.1%).

Japanese Visitors Who Came By Air

Lower visitor arrivals (-33.2%) offset a longer average length of stay (+4.6% to 6.01 days) resulting in a 30.2 percent decrease in Japanese visitor days in April 2003. Year-to-date, visitor days were off by 7.8 percent while Japanese arrivals fell 6.1 percent. The Average length of stay was 5.79 days (5.89 days in the first four months of 2002).

A total of 67,402 Japanese visited the islands during the month, 52.0 percent of whom have been here before (52.1% in April 2002).

Fewer Japanese came to vacation (-36.8%), for conventions (-82.3%) and corporate meetings (-93.5%), but more came to visit friends or relatives (+259.3%) compared to the same time last year. There were 11,248 Japanese honeymooners in Hawaii this April, 13,273 got married, while 1,900 attended or participated in sporting events. So far this year, 52,781 Japanese visitors came to honeymoon, 51,274 got married and 6,792 came for sporting events.

Year-to-date arrivals by Japanese visitors declined for all islands except Lanai.

Canadian Visitors Who Came By Air

Total Canadian visitor days grew 16.5 percent in April 2003 due to a 21.6 percent increase in the average length of stay (to 14.99 days) that negated lower visitor arrivals (-4.3%) during the month. Year-to-date, Canadian visitor days increased 22.5 percent while visitor arrivals was 12.5 percent higher compared to the same period last year.

Of the 13,582 Canadian visitors who came to the islands during the month, 64.8 percent were repeat visitors compared to 63.5 percent a year ago.

Fewer Canadians were here to vacation (-3.6%), to visit friends and relatives (-48.5%), for conventions (-19.7%) and for incentives (-19.5%) but more came to attend corporate meetings (+21.3%) and for other business (+74.3%), compared to the previous April. A total of 357 Canadians honeymooned in the islands in April 2003, 241 came to get married and 95 participated in or attended sporting events. Year-to-date 2,016 Canadians came to honeymoon in the islands, 999 got married and 505 came for sporting events.

Canadian visitor Arrivals increased on all islands except Oahu (-28.2%) this April. Year-to-date, visitations increased on Lanai (+77.6%), Maui (+42.3%), Oahu (+4.3%) and Kauai (+0.5%) but declined on Molokai (-33.5%) and the Big Island (-10.2%).

Cruise Ship Visitors

A total of 11 cruise ships toured the islands in April 2003 carrying 32,647 passengers, including those who arrived by air to board these ships and those who came with the ships. The number of passengers was 62.6 percent higher than last April when 10 cruise ships toured Hawaii with 20,076 passengers.

Of the 32,647 cruise passengers who came this April, 57.5 percent were repeat visitors to the islands. Cruise visitors stayed an average of 7.35 days in Hawaii, of which 4.76 days were spent on their cruise and another 2.59 days were spent before and after their cruise was over.

The majority (84.3%) of the passengers cruised Hawaii for leisure, 8.0 percent visited friends or relatives, 3.5 percent were on their honeymoon and 2.9 percent played golf.

Preliminary First Quarter 2003 Visitor Expenditures

Total visitor expenditures by those who came by air for the first quarter 2003 rose 8.4 percent from the same period last year to $2.6 billion. The growth was due to a higher per person per day spending (from $162 to $165) and an improvement in total visitor days (+6.0%). The increase in total visitor days can be attributed to the increase in visitor arrivals (+1.7%) and a longer average length of stay (+4.3% to 9.92 days).

The top four major markets all reported expenditure growth during the first quarter. Spending by U.S. West visitors rose 8.2 percent to $861 million and continues to be the largest of all visitor groups. U.S. East visitor spending ranked second at $831 million (+3.8%), followed by spending by visitors from Japan (+7.4%) at $479 million and Canada (+33.5%) at $159 million.

Daily spending by Japanese visitors continued to be the highest among all visitor groups at $242 per person, up from $222 per person in first quarter 2002. Ranked second were visitors from the U.S. East at $163 per person (-4.2%), followed by those from All Other major market areas at $162 per person (+1.0%), U.S. West visitors at $151 (+6.2%), and Canadian visitors at $123 (+8.1%).

Total per person per trip (PPPT) expenditures for the first quarter of 2003 was $1,639, 6.5 percent higher than in the same period last year. Visitors from the U.S. East spent the most per trip at $1,873 (+3.0%), followed by visitors from Canada (+15.7% to $1,674), from All Other major market areas (+4.1% to $1,635) and from the U.S. West (+10.1% to $1,601).

Although Japanese visitors spent the most on a daily basis, their per trip expenditure was the lowest at $1,387 per person (+5.3%) because their length of stay was the shortest among all visitor groups at 5.74 days.

For more information, contact:
Dave Young
Communications
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov