For Immediate Release: November 28, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-32

Year-to-Date Visitor spending Reached $10.1 Billion

Note: October 2007 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU--According to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), visitor expenditures for October 2007 rose $6.9 million or .7 percent over last October to $966.8 million. Expenditures for the first ten months of 2007 totaled $10.1 billion, an increase of .6 percent or $64.9 million compared to the same period last year. The average daily visitor spending for October grew from $190 per person in 2006 to $194 per person in 2007 and for the first ten months of 2007 daily spending also increased 2.6 percent to $181 per person.

For the month of October 2007, total arrivals decreased 1.3 percent to 562,636 visitors resulting in a 1.1 percent decline in total visitor days. The average length of stay was virtually unchanged at 8.9 days. Arrivals from Canada rose 10 percent, U.S. West arrivals were steady (+.1%), but U.S. East (-2.3%) and Japanese (-8.3%) arrivals were lower compared to October 2006.

For the year through October 2007, total visitor days decreased 1.9 percent compared to 2006, while total arrivals were off by 1.1 percent. Among the top four visitor markets, visitors from the U.S West (+.6%) and Canada (+2.6%) increased but arrivals from Japan (-3.2%) and the U.S. East (-2.7%) were lower compared to the first ten months of 2006.

"Overall Hawaii's visitor industry remains sound with continued growth in visitor expenditures," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We are especially pleased with the increase in visitors who came to the islands for conventions and corporate meetings and the strong growth in arrivals from the Pacific Northwest."

Other Highlights:

• Arrivals from Washington in particular, increased 25.2 percent in October 2007, and have grown every month since May 2006. Supporting the increase during the month was the addition of Alaska Airline's direct flights from Seattle to Honolulu and Lihue which started in mid October.

• More U.S. West (+3%), U.S. East (+41.8%) and Japanese (+64.8%) visitors came during the month for conventions compared to October 2006. The number of U.S. East (+21.1%) visitors in Hawaii for corporate meetings also increased from last October.
• Contributing to the growth in convention and corporate meeting visitors in October 2007 were the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2007 Annual meeting with 5,930 delegates and the National Indian Education Association 2007 Annual Convention with 3,000 delegates

• Fewer visitors in October 2007 went to more than one island during their stay, resulting in a 6 percent decline in multiple island visitation compared to last October. More total visitors stayed exclusively on O'ahu (+.9%), Kaua'i (+6.3%), Maui (+.2%), Moloka'i (+37.6%) or Lana'i (+65.8%) compared to the same month last year.
• Total visitor days for Kauai was up in all major markets in October 2007. However total arrivals was down 6.6 percent, the first decrease since May 2006 and only the second time in two years. The decrease in total arrivals was partially due to a change in cruise ship scheduling. Through October 2007, Kauai was the only island that showed increased visitations from all of the top four visitor markets compared to year-to-date 2006.

• Through October 2007, O'ahu and Maui saw growth in arrivals from U.S. West and Canadian visitors but fewer from U.S. East and Japanese visitors. Moloka'i and Lana'i saw growth in U.S. West, U.S. East and Canadian visitors. Hawai'i Island reported heavier arrivals from U.S. East and Canadian visitors compared to year-to-date 2006.
• Year to date, visitor spending on O'ahu increased .8 percent from the first ten months of 2006 to $4.7 billion. Spending on Maui was the second highest at $2.8 billion, but decreased 4.1 percent from a year ago. Hawai'i Island at $1.4 billion (+5.3%) and Kaua'i at $1.1 billion (+5.2%) both showed growth over the same period in 2006.

October 2007 Cruise Ship Visitors

• Total cruise visitor days for October 2007 increased 4.8 percent compared to last October. The number of visitors who boarded a Hawai'i home ported or foreign flagged cruise ship dipped slightly (-.9%) to 50,484 visitors. Due to a variation in days of the week, there was one less ship tour in October 2007 compared to 2006. These cruise passengers were included in the cruise ship statistics for the previous month.
• In the month of October, there was a shift in cruise visitors who arrived by air to board cruise ships (-19.1%) to those who came aboard cruise ships to Hawaii (+45.3%) compared to October 2006.
• The average length of stay by all cruise visitors was 9.87 days, up from 9.33 days in October 2006.
• Total cruise visitor days increased 28.4 percent for the first ten months of 2007. Contributing to this increase was a 24.7 percent growth in cruise visitor. Of the ships in Hawai'i year-to-date, there were 63 cruise ship arrivals, compared to 54 in the same period last year. Cruise ship arrival is the number of times cruise ships enter the State of Hawai'i. A cruise ship may be counted multiple times if it leaves Hawai'i then returns with new passengers within the same month.

Technical Notes: 2006 air visitor data presented in this news release are the final data for the year. Detailed final statistics have been published in the 2006 Annual Visitor Research Report, available at the Visitor Statistics website: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats

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