For Immediate Release: September 26, 2005
DBEDT News Release 05-29

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

HONOLULU - Total spending by visitors in Hawaii during August 2005 increased 9.5 percent compared to the same month last year to $1.05 billion, according to data released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

The higher expenditures resulted from a 7.7 percent growth in total visitor days, boosted by record domestic arrivals which elevated total arrivals by 7.1 percent to 692,254 visitors, a new benchmark for the month of August.

The average daily spending also rose to $167 per person, compared to $164 per person in August 2004.

Of the total number of arrivals during the month, 23,734 visitors flew to the state to board Hawaii home-ported cruise ships, up 36.5 percent from August a year ago. There were no out-of-state cruise ships visiting the islands in August 2005. Cruise visitor days climbed 54.1 percent on a year-to-date basis.

Year-to-date, total visitor expenditures exceeded the same period last year by 7.8 percent to $7.7 billion, while total visitor days increased 7.4 percent. Total arrivals rose 7.1 percent to reach 5,016,393 visitors, the best result on record for the first eight months of any year.

"We were extremely pleased with the strong performance of the visitor industry in August. Contributing to the record total arrivals was a 177 percent increase in meeting, convention and incentive visitors primarily due to several large conventions in the islands" said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We welcomed delegates from the American Legion 2005 National Convention, the Academy of Management 2005 Annual meeting and the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2005 Annual session."

Total Air Visitors: Air visitors spent a total of $7.7 billion during the first eight months of 2005, up 7.8 percent compared to the same period last year with increases from all four major visitor markets (U.S. West, U.S. East, Japan and Canada).

Year-to-date visitor spending on Oahu totaled $3.8 billion (+5.8%), followed by Maui at $2.1 billion (+6.6%), the Big Island at $1.0 billion (+21.6%) and Kauai at $777.4 million (+5.2%).

Contributing to the growth in total visitor expenditures was a 7.4 percent increase in total visitor days, supported by record high total arrivals of 5,016,393 visitors to date. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.15 days.

Visitor arrivals rose on the Big Island (+16.5%), Oahu (+7.7%), Maui (+3.2%), Molokai (+2%) and Kauai (+2.9%) compared to the same period last year.

A greater number of visitors came to vacation (+7.2%), honeymoon (+10.1%), visit friends or relatives (+6.6%) and for meetings, conventions and incentives (+23.7%).

Repeat visitors accounted for 62.6 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii, unchanged from year-to-date 2004.

• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days grew 7.7 percent as arrivals rose 7.3 percent to 3,602,407 visitors, a new record for the first eight months of the year. The average length of stay was 9.94 days up from 9.90 days in year-to-date 2004.

  The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 92.2 percent of total domestic arrivals, was 7.4 percent higher compared to the same period last year 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 6.2 percent due to a 6.7 percent growth in arrivals to 1,413,986 visitors. The average length of stay was 7.16 days.

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

  U.S. West: Total spending by U.S. West visitors increased 9 percent compared to year-to-date 2004, to $2.8 billion, the highest among the four major visitor markets. The average daily spending was $146 per person. Visitor days for this group rose 7.3 percent, as arrivals increased 7.7 percent to 2,028,790 visitors. The average length of stay was virtually unchanged from year-to-date 2004 at 9.52 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 $2.4 billion, 9.6 percent higher compared to the same period last year. This group of visitors spent an average of $174 per person per day, the second highest among the top four visitor markets.

  U.S. East visitor days grew 6.9 percent compared to the first eight months of 2004. Contributing to the increase was a 6 percent growth in arrivals to 1,351,999 visitors. The average length of stay was 10.36 days. Similar to their U.S. West counterpart, more U.S. East visitors came to vacation, visit friends or relatives and attend corporate meetings.

  Japan: Total spending by Japanese visitors rose 0.2 percent over year-to-date 2004 levels to $1.4 billion. While ranking third in total expenditures, Japanese visitors spent the most on a daily basis at $241 per person. Japanese visitor days rose 2.9 percent, boosted by arrivals which increased 4.9 percent to 1,005,037 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.77 days. More Japanese visitors came to vacation, honeymoon and for conventions and incentives compared to the same period last year.

Canada: Total expenditures and average daily spending by Canadian visitors ranked fourth among the top four major visitor markets at $268.1 million (+10.3%) and $126 per person, respectively. Canadian visitor days rose 11.2 percent due to a 9.6 percent growth in arrivals to 161,264 visitors in the first eight months of 2005. The average length of stay was 13.22 days.
• Per person per trip expenditures by MMA:

  Year-to-date U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip at $1,799 per person, followed by visitors from Canada ($1,662 per person), from All Other markets ($1,599 per person), Japan ($1,391 per person) and the U.S. West ($1,389 per person).

Total cruise visitor days jumped 54.1 percent during the first eight months of 2005. Contributing to this increase was a 34.9 percent growth in out-of-state visitors to 174,897 passengers, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came with the ships. These visitors were aboard 32 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 newly added Pride of America which began inter-island cruises in mid July 2005.

In year-to-date 2004, there were 38 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 53.6 percent of the out-of-state cruise visitors, compared to 56.8 percent in year-to-date 2004. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 9.02 days in Hawaii, of which 5.93 days were spent on their cruise and another 3.09 days were spent before and after their cruise.

Technical Notes: 2004 air visitor data presented in this news release are the final 2004 numbers. Detailed final statistics are published in the 2004 Annual Visitor Research Report.

2005 expenditure data for the seven months of the year have been revised to reflect the inclusion of inter island air faire costs in order to compare 2005 to final 2004 statistics. In addition, total spending (on-ship and on-shore) by passengers touring the islands on Hawaii home ported ships has also been included as has on-shore spending by passengers on foreign ships.

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