For Immediate Release: January 30, 2006
DBEDT Release News 06-02

Note: December 2005 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

2005 Total Arrivals Reached Nearly 7.4 Million Visitors

HONOLULU--2005 was an exceptional year for Hawaii's visitor industry with strong increases in total expenditures and total visitor days. Thanks to total arrivals of 7.39 million visitors, a new benchmark was reached, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Concurrently, total visitor spending rose 8.4 percent to $11.5 billion. Total visitor days increased 6.9 percent compared to 2004 and the average daily spending also rose to $172 per person, from $170 per person last year.

For the month of December 2005, total visitor expenditures increased 9.2 percent, compared to December 2004 (rising to $1.1 billion), while total visitor days rose 6.8 percent. Total visitor arrivals grew 5.5 percent to 650,506, a new high for the month of December.

"Passing the 7 million milestone was a tremendous achievement for our state's visitor industry, and we are also pleased to achieve an all-time high of $11.5 billion in expenditures," said Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "These milestones reflect the quality and professionalism of everyone involved in the visitor industry."

Wienert noted that increases from Japan, Canada and record growth from the domestic visitor market elevated total arrivals to the new milestone of nearly 7.4 million visitors.

Contributing to the growth in the month of December 2005 was the Honolulu Marathon and the Honolulu Marathon Race Day Walk which attracted 26,426 participants from out-of-state, up from 25,237 out-of-state participants in 2004.

Of the 650,506 visitors who came in December 2005, 24,855 visitors flew to the state to board Hawaii home-ported cruise ships, up 65 percent from last December. In addition, another 10,375 visitors arrived on out-of-state cruise ships visiting the islands (+16.2%). Cruise visitor days jumped 73.7 percent for December 2005 and 50 percent for the year.

Calendar Year 2005 preliminary visitor statistics:

Total Air Visitors: Air visitors spent a total of $11.5 billion during 2005, up 8.4 percent compared to 2004 with increases from the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canadian visitor markets. Total visitor spending by Japanese visitors were virtually unchanged from 2004.

Visitor spending on Oahu totaled $5.7 billion (+5.5%), followed by Maui at $3.1 billion (+10.6%), the Big Island at $1.5 billion (+16.6%) and Kauai at $1.2 billion (+7.8%).

Contributing to the growth in total visitor expenditures was a 6.9 percent increase in total visitor days, supported by record high total arrivals of 7,379,635 visitors in 2005. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.09 days.

Visitor arrivals rose on the Big Island (+16.1%), Kauai (+6.8%), Oahu (+6.4%), Maui (+5%), Molokai (+3.6%) and Lanai (+3.3%) compared to 2004.

A greater number of visitors came to vacation (+6.3%), honeymoon (+10.4%), visit friends or relatives (+6.6%) and for meetings, conventions and incentives (+32.6%).

Repeat visitors accounted for 62.3 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii, virtually unchanged from 2004.

• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days grew 7.6 percent as arrivals rose 7.4 percent to 5,255,098 visitors, a new record for 2005. The average length of stay was 9.92 days up from 9.90 days in the prior year.

  The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 91.6 percent of total domestic arrivals, was 7.4 percent higher compared to 2004 with increases from all U.S. regions. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.

• International air visitors: International visitor days rose 4.6 percent due to a 5.2 percent growth in arrivals to 2,124,537 visitors. The average length of stay was 7.05 days.

• Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):

  U.S. West: Total spending by U.S. West visitors increased 9.3 percent compared to 2004, to $4.3 billion, the highest among the four major visitor markets. The average daily spending was $150 per person. Visitor days for this group rose 7.7 percent, as arrivals increased 7.9 percent to 2,986,369 visitors. The average length of stay was 9.53 days. More of these visitors came to vacation, visit friends or relatives, and for conventions, corporate meetings and incentives compared to the same period last year.

  U.S. East: Total spending by U.S. East visitors reached $3.5 billion, 9.5 percent higher than the previous year. This group of visitors spent an average of $178 per person per day, the second highest among the top four visitor markets.

  U.S. East visitor days grew 6.2 percent compared to 2004. Contributing to the increase was a 5.6 percent growth in arrivals to 1,906,609 visitors. The average length of stay was 10.31 days. Similar to their U.S. West counterpart, more U.S. East visitors came to vacation, visit friends or relatives and attend conventions and corporate meetings.

  Japan: Total spending by Japanese visitors was virtually unchanged from 2004 levels at $2.2 billion. While ranking third in total expenditures, Japanese visitors spent the most on a daily basis at $249 per person. Japanese visitor days rose 1.1 percent, boosted by arrivals which increased 2.7 percent to 1,522,356 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.71 days. More Japanese visitors came to vacation, honeymoon and for conventions and incentives compared to last year.

Canada: Total expenditures and average daily spending by Canadian visitors ranked fourth among the top four major visitor markets at $420.5 million (+15.6%) and $130 per person, respectively. Canadian visitor days rose 13.5 percent due to a 12.2 percent growth in arrivals to 243,567 visitors in 2005. The average length of stay was 13.28 days.
• Per person per trip expenditures by MMA:

  U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip in 2005 at $1,835 per person, followed by visitors from Canada ($1,726 per person), from All Other markets ($1,654 per person), from the U.S. West ($1,428 per person) and from Japan ($1,421 per person).

Total cruise visitor days jumped 50 percent in 2005. Contributing to this increase was a 31.2 percent growth in out-of-state visitors to 315,914 passengers, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came with the ships. These visitors were aboard 54 out-of-state cruise ships including the foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind. In addition, there were two U.S. flagged ships home ported in Hawaii, the Pride of Aloha and the Pride of America, which began inter-island cruises in July 2005.

In 2004, there were 67 out-of-state cruise ships, including the foreign-flagged Norwegian Star, which toured the islands from January to April 2004, and the Norwegian Wind, which came in May 2004. In addition, the U.S. flagged Pride of Aloha began touring the islands in July 2004.

Repeat visitors to Hawaii comprised 55.7 percent of out-of-state cruise visitors, compared to 57.5 percent in 2004. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 9.27 days in Hawaii, of which 6.01 days were spent on their cruise and another 3.26 days were spent before and after their cruise.

For more information, contact:
Marsha Wienert, Tourism Liaison
Phone: (808) 586-2362
Email: marsha.wienert@hawaii.gov

Dave Young
Communications
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov