For Immediate Release: July 24, 2003
DBEDT Release News 03-36

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

Honolulu—Total visitor days for the first half of 2003 increased 5.6 percent compared to the same period last year due to a longer length of stay (+7.2% to 9.86 days) that offset a 1.5 percent decline in visitor arrivals, according to data released by DBEDT today.

Total Visitor days by those who traveled to Hawaii by air during June 2003 was 1.7 percent higher than in the previous June. Arrivals from the domestic market (+2.0%) continued to grow while lower international arrivals (-28.3%) were offset by a longer average length of stay by the total number of visitors who came to the islands.

Contributing to the increase in domestic visitors was the 2003 Snickers U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regionals, a six-day soccer tournament held June 23 through June 30, that attracted close to 8,000 visitors.

"We are encouraged by the steady growth in the number of domestic visitors to the State over the first half of the year," said DBEDT Director Theodore E. Liu. "This increase has sustained us through a challenging period for the international market segment. Now that travel warnings for the SARS illness have been lifted throughout most of Asia we hope we will see an increase in international arrivals toward the end of the year."

Visitors Arriving on Domestic Flights

Domestic visitor days, compiled from flights originating in U.S. cities, increased 7.7 percent in June 2003, due to growth in visitor arrivals (+2.0%) and a longer average length of stay (+5.6% to 11.0 days). For the first half of 2003, domestic visitor days (+8.6%) and visitor arrivals (+2.8%) continued to exceed the same period last year.

The U.S. market, which comprised 92.7 percent of all domestic visitors during June 2003, rose 1.9 percent from the same month last year. Lower arrivals from California (-2.3%), the East South Central region (-2.6%) and the South Atlantic region (-3.1%) were offset by increases from Oregon (+12.2%), Washington (+0.8%), the Mountain region (+14.7%), the West North Central region (+4.5%), the West South Central region (+6.4%), the East North Central region (+4.1%), the New England region (+6.2%) and the Middle Atlantic region (+3.4%).

Compared to last June, arrivals from the domestic market rose on Maui (+5.1%), Molokai (+7.0%), Kauai (+4.4%) and the Big Island (+0.2%) but decreased on Oahu (-3.3%) and Lanai (-10.8%). Contributing to the growth in domestic visitors to the neighbor islands were the additions of direct flights to Kahului, Lihue and Kona during the month.

For the first half of 2003, domestic arrivals on Oahu were off by 4.0 percent but were higher on Molokai (+37.8%), Maui (+9.1%), Kauai (+3.3%), the Big Island (+2.5%) and Lanai (+0.2%).

There were more domestic visitors in the islands to vacation (+1.1%), to visit friends or relatives (+15.6%), for incentive travels (+22.1%) and for other business (+11.8%) compared to last June. Repeat visitors accounted for 63.9 percent of all domestic visitors to the islands, slightly higher than 63.7 percent in June 2002.

A new breakdown of visitors by purpose of trip has been added this year. Data show that in June 2003 there were 31,356 domestic honeymooners in the islands, 6,070 got married, while 14,086 attended or participated in sporting events. Year-to-date, 109,027 visitors came to honeymoon, 27,944 got married and 40,783 participated or attended sporting events in Hawaii.

Visitors Arriving on International Flights

International visitor days, compiled from flights originating outside the U.S. fell 22.9 percent in June 2003 due to a 28.3 percent drop in arrivals which negated a longer average length of stay (+7.6% to 6.80 days). For the first half of 2003, lower visitor arrivals (-11.4%) offset a longer length of stay (+7.8% to 7.44 days) resulting in a 4.5 percent decline in visitor days.

All islands experienced decreases in international arrivals during the month of June. Visitations to Lanai are up 63.7 percent year-to-date.

Repeat visitors comprised 50.0 percent of all international visitors in June 2003, compared to 50.5 percent in the same month last year. Compared to the first half of 2002, fewer international visitors came to vacation (-9.7%), for conventions (-30.0%), for corporate meetings (-22.8%), for other business (-12.0%) and to visit friends and relatives (-2.5%), but more were here for incentive travels (+50.4%).

A total of 16,924 visitors honeymooned in the islands during the month, 22,152 got married while 1,604 participated or attended sports events. Year-to-date 89,712 visitors came to honeymoon, 92,103 got married and 13,579 participated or attended sports events.

Island Highlights

Visitor arrivals by air in June 2003 increased on Maui (+0.2%) and Molokai (+3.9%) but declined on Oahu (-13.3%), Lanai (-11.9%), the Big Island (-10.1%) and Kauai (-1.7%) compared to the same month last year.

Domestic visitors stayed the longest on Oahu at 8.52 days (+7.2%), followed by Maui at 7.84 days (+5.8%), Kauai at 7.13 days (+4.4%), the Big Island at 7.08 days (+0.1%), Molokai at 4.55 days (-9.7%) and Lanai at 4.02 days (-3.8%).

International visitors stayed the longest on Oahu at 5.94 days (+6.3%), followed by Maui at 5.00 days (+39.2%), the Big Island at 4.56 days (+5.1%), Kauai at 4.35 days (+75.5%), Lanai at 2.57 days (-64.4%) and Molokai at 1.63 days (-42.7%).

For the first half of 2003, visitations declined on Oahu (-7.4%), Kauai (-0.7) and the Big Island (-1.1%) but increased on Maui (+6.9%), Molokai (+15.1%) and Lanai (+7.7%).

Characteristics of Visitors Who Came by Air

The total number of visitors who vacationed in Hawaii during June 2003 decreased 7.1 percent compared to the same month last year. Fewer visitors came for conventions (-20.0%), for corporate meetings (-29.6%) and for government/military purposes (-35.5%) but more were here to visit friends or relatives (+10.7%), for incentives (+68.1%) and for other business (+1.8%).

A total of 48,280 visitors honeymooned in the islands during the month, 28,222 got married and 15,690 attended or participated in sporting events. Year-to-date, there were 198,739 honeymooners, 120,047 got married and 54,362 attended or participated in sporting events.

Hotels continue to be the popular choice for lodging, accommodating 66.8 percent of the visitors who came in this June, but the number of visitors who planned to stay in hotels fell 7.8 percent from the same month last year. More visitors planned to stay in condominium units (+2.0%) and timeshare properties (+3.1%) compared to the same month last year.

Repeat visitors comprised 60.9 percent of the total visitors during the month compared to 59.9 percent in June 2002. Year-to-date, repeat visitors averaged 62.5 percent, up slightly from 62.1 percent in first half 2002.

U.S. West Visitors Who Came By Air

U.S. West visitor days rose 5.7 percent this June due to growth in arrivals (+0.6%) and a longer average length of stay (+5.1% to 10.57 days). For the first half of 2003, visitor days increased 7.2 percent while visitor arrivals rose 2.1 percent from the previous year. The average length of stay was 10.38 days (+4.9%).

The islands hosted a total of 252,752 U.S. West visitors during the month, 74.7 percent of whom were repeat visitors, compared to 74.0 percent a year ago. Fewer came to attend conventions (-13.5%), and for government/military purposes (-2.8%), but more visitors came to vacation (+0.9%), for corporate meetings (+4.2%) for incentives (+66.6%) and to visit friends or relatives (+6.2%) compared to last June.

A total of 12,366 U.S. West visitors honeymooned in the islands, 3,145 got married in Hawaii and 10,172 participated in or attended sporting events. Year-to-date there were 45,912 honeymooners, 14,214 got married and 24,245 were here for sporting events.

Molokai (+21.6%), Lanai (+18.4%), Maui (+4.6%) and Kauai (+4.5%) reported growth in visitor arrivals from the U.S. West this June. Except for Oahu (-6.2%) and the Big Island (-0.6%) which reported lower U.S. West arrivals, visitations rose on Molokai (+57.8%), Lanai (+16.5%), Maui (+10.3%) and Kauai (+4.6%) for the first half of 2003.

U.S. East Visitors Who Came By Air

Increased arrivals (+0.8%) and a longer average length of stay (+7.8% to 11.49 days) resulted in a 8.6 percent growth in U.S. East Visitor days. Year-to-date, U.S. East visitor days rose 10.9 percent while visitor arrivals were 2.3 percent higher than in the same period last year.

There were 154,722 U.S. East visitors in the islands during the month, 51.1 percent were first time visitors compared to 50.6 percent last June. The number of U.S. East visitors who came for vacation (+0.8%), for incentives (+18.1%), to visit friends or relatives (+16.2%) and for other business (+22.9%) increased from last June.

In this June there were 16,563 honeymooners from the U.S. East. In addition 2,494 came to get married and 3,262 attended or participated in sporting events. A total of 54,431 U.S. East visitors honeymooned in Hawaii, 10,648 got married and 6,422 attended or participated in sporting events during the first half of 2003.

Kauai (+2.6%) and Maui (+4.3%) experienced arrival growth from the U.S. East during this June. Year-to-date visitations declined on Lanai (-12.4%) and Oahu (-2.8%) but increased on Molokai (+17.9%), Maui (+5.8%), the Big Island (+4.5%) and Kauai (+1.3%).

Japanese Visitors Who Came By Air

Japanese Visitor days were off by 29.7 percent in June 2003 due to a 30.9 percent decline in visitor arrivals. The average length of stay by those who came during the month was 5.72 days (+1.7%). For the first half of 2003, visitor days decreased 17.0 percent while Japanese arrivals were down by 16.4 percent. The Average length of stay was 5.77 days compared to 5.81 days in the first six months of 2002.

A total of 84,096 Japanese visited the islands during the month, 51.8 percent of whom were repeat visitors compared to 49.9 percent in June 2002.

Fewer Japanese visitors came to vacation (-37.8%), for conventions (-83.2%) for corporate meetings (-64.3%) while more were here to visit friends or relatives (+136.8%) and for incentives (+1,063.3%) compared to the same month last year. There were 14,368 Japanese honeymooners in Hawaii this June, 21,854 got married while 1,478 attended or participated in sporting events. For the first half of 2003, 78,542 Japanese visitors came to honeymoon, 89,099 got married and 9,636 came for sporting events.

Year-to-date, the number of Japanese arrivals were lower on all islands except Lanai.

Canadian Visitors Who Came By Air

Decreased visitor arrivals (-25.3%) offset a longer length of stay (+7.6% to 11.61 days) and resulted in a 19.7 percent drop in Canadian visitor days in June 2003. Year-to-date, Canadian visitor days rose 16.7 percent while visitor arrivals was 8.1 percent higher compared to the same period last year.

About half (50.6%) of the 6,942 Canadian visitors during the month were repeat visitors compared to 52.0 percent last June.

More Canadian visitors came for conventions (+4.8%) and for other business (+16.1%) but fewer were here to vacation (-27.2%) and to visitor friends or relatives (-12.6%) compared to last June. A total of 660 Canadians honeymooned in the islands, 103 came to get married and 27 participated in or attended sporting events. Year-to-date 3,011 Canadians came to honeymoon in the islands, 1,220 got married and 886 came for sporting events.

Canadian visitor arrivals increased on Molokai (+96.3%), and Lanai (+54.7%) this June. For the first half of 2003, visitations increased on Lanai (+48.7%), Maui (+33.3%), Oahu (+1.9%) but declined on Molokai (-31.4%), the Big Island (-9.8%) and Kauai (-2.1%).

Cruise Ship Visitors

There were no cruise ship arrivals from out-of-state in the islands during June 2003.

Preliminary May 2003 Visitor Expenditures

Total visitor expenditures by those who traveled to the islands by air during May 2003 increased slightly by 0.4 percent from the same month last year to $731.0 million. The growth was due to a small improvement in total visitor days (+0.1%) and a longer average length of stay (+8.1% to 9.45 days) which offset lower arrivals (-7.4%) for the month. Per person per day spending also rose slightly to $165 (from $164 in May 2002). Year-to-date visitor expenditures totaled $4.0 billion, 8.6 percent higher than the same period in 2002.

Total spending by U.S. West visitors in this May climbed 12.7 percent to $302.2 million and remains largest of all visitor groups. U.S. East visitor spending ranked second at $247.3 million (+16.5%), followed by spending by visitors from Japan at $99.6 million (-43.2%) and Canada at $15.3 million (+18.3%). Year-to-date U.S. West visitors spent $1.5 billion (+15.1%), U.S. East visitors spent $1.3 billion (+8.9%), Japanese visitor spent $670.2 million (-10.4%) and Canadian visitors spent $199.3 million (+31.6%).

Daily spending by Japanese visitors in May 2003 continued to be the highest among all visitor groups at $242 per person, compared to $239 per person in the same month last year. Ranked second were visitors from the U.S. East at $173 per person (+3.3%), followed by U.S. West visitors at $152 per person, visitors from All Other major market areas at $141 per person (-1.5%) and Canadian visitors at $117 (+8.7%).

Year-to-date, daily spending by Japanese visitors averaged $239 per person, followed by those from the U.S East ($165 per person), from All Other major market areas ($156 per person), from the U.S West ($151 per person) and from Canada ($123 per person).

Per person per trip (PPPT) expenditures for May 2003 was $1,556, up 8.5 percent from the same month last year. Visitors from the U.S. East spent the most per trip at $1,851 (+15.1%), followed by visitors from the U.S. West (+9.5% to $1,472), from Canada (+21.8% to $1,441), from Japan (-5.9% to $1,386) and from All Other major market areas (+6.9% to $1,371).

U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip year-to-date at $1,842 per person (+6.1%), followed by those from Canada at $1,671 per person (+18.6%), from the U.S. West at $1,561 per person (+12.3%) and from All Other major market areas at $1,558 per person (+8.4%). Although Japanese visitors spent the most on a daily basis, their average per trip spending of $1,382 was the lowest among all visitor groups due to their shorter average length of stay (5.78 days)

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