For Immediate Release: March 29, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-05

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

Daily spending per visitor increased 5.4 percent

HONOLULU--Total visitor expenditures for February 2007 increased 4.2 percent from last February to $963.1 million, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT). At the same time, the average daily visitor spending rose to $181 per person compared to $172 in February 2006, and spending per trip grew 6.4 percent to an average of $1,716 per person.

Total visitor days declined 1.1 percent from February 2006 due to a 2.1 percent drop in total arrivals to 561,410 visitors. The average length of stay was slightly longer at 9.48 days. Among the top four visitor markets, visitors from the U.S. West (+6.1%) increased but arrivals from the U.S. East (-9.9%), Japan (-5.3%) and Canada (-5.3%) were lower than in the same month last year.

For the first two months of 2007, total visitor expenditures grew 1.2 percent to $2 billion. The average daily spending rose 5.1 percent to $179 per person. Total visitor days dipped 3.7 percent compared to year-to-date 2006.

"We continue to be encouraged by the steady increase in visitors from the U.S. West, as well as the overall growth in visitor expenditures in the first two months of the year," said Marsha Wienert, State Tourism Liaison. "We expect the visitor industry to remain strong for the year, but with more moderate growth compared to the record performance of the past couple of years."

Of the total number of visitors who came in February 2007, 38,643 visitors either flew to the state to board cruise ships or came by cruise ships visiting Hawai‘i, an increase of 32 percent from last February. Cruise visitor days for the month rose 26.9 percent.

Year-to-date 2007 preliminary visitor statistics:

• Total visitor expenditures: Visitors spent a total of $2 billion in the first two months of 2007, 1.2 percent higher than the same period last year. Growth in total spending by the U.S. West and Canadian visitor markets offset decreases from U.S. East and Japanese visitors.

  Visitor spending on O‘ahu totaled $863.1 million (-1.1%), followed by Maui at $585.9 million (-1.4%), the Big Island at $296.9 million (+11%) and Kaua‘i at $206.6 million (+3.4%).

• Total air visitors: Total visitor days contracted 3.7 percent due to a 3.9 percent decrease in total arrivals. The average length of stay by all visitors was 9.85 days, similar to year-to-date 2006.

  Visitor arrivals were higher on Kaua‘i (+7.1%) and Lana'i (+5.7%) compared to the same period last year.

  A greater number of visitors came to visit with friends or relatives (+5.9%). The number of domestic honeymoon visitors declined (-3.2%) but were offset by a 4.5 percent growth in honeymooners from the international market.

  Repeat visitors comprised 66.5 percent of the total visitors to Hawai‘i, versus 65.5 percent in year-to-date 2006.

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

  U.S. West: Total spending by U.S. West visitors was $682.1 million, 7 percent higher than in the first two months of 2006. This group of visitors spent an average of $156 per person per day, an increase of 5.3 percent from the same period last year.

U.S. West visitor days increased 1.7 percent due to a 3.8 percent growth in arrivals to 437,947 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.96 days, compared to 10.17 days in the same period last year. Arrivals from the Pacific region and the Mountain region rose by 3.8 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

U.S. East: Total spending by U.S. East visitors year-to-date declined 6.9 percent to $644.8 million and remained the second highest among the four major visitor markets. Average daily spending by U.S. East visitors also ranked second at $181 per person.

U.S. East visitor days declined 9 percent from year-to-date 2006, due to a 9.5 percent drop in visitor arrivals. The average length of stay was 11.34 days, slightly higher than 11.28 days in the same month last year. Arrivals decreased for the East South Central (-17.1%), New England (-11.6%), East North Central (-11.2%), South Atlantic (-10.4%), West North Central (-8.9%) and West South Central (-6.3%) regions.

Japan: Japanese visitors spent a total of $328.3 million, 1.2 percent lower compared to the same period last year. Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $284 per person, an increase of 8.5 percent.

Japanese visitor days were 9 percent lower compared to the first two months of 2006, due to a 9 percent decrease in visitor arrivals to 208,560 visitors. The average length of stay was unchanged at 5.54 days.

Canada: Total expenditures rose 11.3 percent to $137.6 million for the first two months of 2007, driven by an 11.2 percent increase in average daily spending to $146 per person.

Canadian arrivals dipped slightly by .6 percent to 68,772 visitors. However, the average length of stay increased (+0.7%) to 13.68 days, resulting in a .1 percent growth in visitor days.

• Per person per trip expenditures by MMA:

  U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip ($2,053 per person) in the first two months of 2007, followed by visitors from Canada ($2,001 per person), the U.S. West ($1,558 per person) and Japan ($1,574 per person).

Year-to-date 2007 Preliminary Cruise Visitor Statistics:

Total cruise visitor days rose 25.6 percent for the first two months of 2007. Contributing to this increase was a 24.8 percent growth in cruise visitors to 83,667 visitors. These passengers includes those who flew to the state to board cruise ships or came by cruise ships visiting Hawai‘i. Of the ships in Hawai‘i year-to-date, there were thirteen cruise ship arrivals, compared to 16 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.

Repeat visitors to Hawai‘i accounted for 60.5 percent of out-of-state cruise visitors, compared to 57.8 percent in year-to-date 2006. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 9.87 days in Hawai‘i, of which 6.05 days were spent on their cruise.

Technical Notes: 2006 air visitor data presented in this news release are the preliminary numbers and are subject to change. Detailed final statistics will be published in the 2006 Annual Visitor Research Report, available by mid-year 2007.

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