For Immediate Release: May 26, 2006
DBEDT Release News 06-15

Note: April 2006 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

Total Visitor Days Set New April Record

HONOLULU--Total visitor expenditures increased 14.9 percent to $895.2 million in April 2006, largely due to a 10.7 percent increase in arrivals. Average daily expenditures per person also increased by 2.6 percent as compared to last April, according to preliminary data released by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) today.

The strong increase in total visitor days is credited to a jump in domestic visitor arrivals compared to April last year. International arrivals were comparable to April 2005, while domestic arrivals increased 15.1 percent.

Year-to-date, domestic arrivals increased 3.9 percent, resulting in a 2.1 percent increase in total arrivals International arrivals decreased 2.2 percent despite a 10.6 percent increase in arrivals from Canada. Japanese arrivals decreased 7 percent compared to last April.

"Having Easter fall in April this year versus March last year contributed to the increase in domestic arrivals this month," said Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.

"April also saw a 23.9 percent increase in visitors that came to attend a meeting, convention or on an incentive trip compared to last year.

Of the total number of visitors who came in the first four months of the year, 138,219 visitors either flew to the state to board Hawaii home-ported cruise ships or arrived on foreign cruise ships visiting the islands, up 49.8 percent from the same period last year. Cruise visitor days climbed 68.3 percent compared to the first four months of 2005.

Year-to-date 2006 preliminary visitor statistics:

Total Air Visitors: Air visitors spent a total of $3.8 billion in the first four months of 2006, up 7.3 percent compared to the same period last year with large increases from the U.S. West and Canadian visitor markets. Total visitor spending by Japanese visitors decreased 1.2 percent.

Year-to-date visitor spending on Oahu totaled $1.7 billion (-1.8%) followed by Maui at $1.17 billion (+24.6%), the Big Island at $513.2 million (+4.1%) and Kauai at $391.3 million (+9.4%).

The 4.6 percent increase in average spending per day and the 2.7 percent increase in visitor days contributed to the growth in total visitor expenditures. The average length of stay by these visitors increased slightly to 9.34 days.

Visitor arrivals rose on Kauai (+9.8%), Maui (+7.2%), Molokai (+4.2%), Lanai (+11.8%) and the Big Island (+6.6%) compared to first four months of 2005.

A greater number of visitors came for meetings (+17.3%) and incentives (+15.8%) and other business (+6.2%).

Year-to-date, repeat visitors accounted for 64.1 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii, similar to the same period last year.

• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days rose 3.2 percent as arrivals rose by 3.9 percent to 1,712,945 visitors. The average length of stay was 10 days.

  The number of U.S. visitors, which accounted for 91.9 percent of total domestic arrivals to date, was 3.8 percent higher compared to the same period last year with increases from all regions except for New England and the Middle Atlantic. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.

• International air visitors: International visitor days increased .8 percent despite a 2.2 percent decrease in arrivals to 677,367 visitors. The average length of stay increased by 3 percent to 7.6 days.

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

U.S. East: Total spending by U.S. East visitors increased 4.9 percent compared to the first four months of 2005, to $1.25 billion, the second highest among the four major visitor markets. The average daily spending was $176 per person, the second highest among the top four visitor markets.

U.S. East visitor days increased 1.6 percent compared to first four months of 2005. The increase was due to a 2.7 percent growth in arrivals to 677,862 visitors. The average length of stay declined slightly to 10.4 days. A higher number of U.S. East visitors came for conventions and incentive meetings.

U.S. West: Total spending by U.S. West visitors reached $1.32 billion, 11.1 percent higher than year-to-date 2005. This group of visitors spent an average of $151 per person per day, a 7.3 percent increase from the same period last year.

U.S. West visitor days increased by 3.5 percent. Arrivals rose 4.8 percent to 922,338 visitors for the first four months of 2006 which was somewhat offset by a lower average length of stay (9.5 days). More of these visitors came to honeymoon and for conventions.

Japan: Japanese visitors spent a total of $668.1 million in the first four months of 2006, 1.2 percent lower compared to the same period last year. While ranking third in total expenditures, Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $264 per person.

Japanese visitor days declined 8.9 percent, due to a 7 percent decrease in visitor arrivals to 450,432 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.6 days, a decrease of 2 percent.

Canada: Year-to-date, total expenditures and average daily spending by Canadian visitors ranked fourth among the top four major visitor markets at $242.4 million (+18.6%) and $134 per person, respectively. Canadian visitor days increased 12.5 percent, boosted by a 10.6 percent growth in arrivals to 127,084 visitors. The average length of stay was the longest at 14.3 days.

• Per person per trip expenditures by MMA:

  Canadian visitors spent the most per trip during the first four months of 2006, at $1,907 per person, followed by visitors from the U.S. East ($1,838 per person), All Other markets ($1,623 per person), Japan ($1,483 per person) and the U.S. West ($1,434 per person).

Total cruise visitor days climbed 68.3 percent in the first four months of 2006. Contributing to this increase was a 49.8 percent growth in cruise visitors to 138,219 visitors, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came on the ships. These visitors were aboard 29 international cruise ships including the foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind and two U.S. flagged ships home ported in Hawaii, the Pride of Aloha and the Pride of America.

Repeat visitors to Hawaii comprised 58.4 percent of out-of-state cruise visitors, a slight increase as compared to the same period last year. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 9.68 days in Hawaii, of which 5.95 days were spent on 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