For Immediate Release: August 30, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-20

Total Spending Increases to $7.1 Billion in First Seven Months of the Year
First Increase in Japanese Visitors Since December 2005

Note: July 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 July totaled $1.2 billion, an increase of $7.4 million or .6 percent ahead of the same month last year. Average daily spending increased to $182 per person from $176 per person in July 2006.

For the first time since December 2005, visitor arrivals from Japan increased (+2.1%). Arrivals from other markets - U.S. West (-2.9%), U.S. East (-7.4%) and Canada (-.2%) - were lower compared to last July. Total arrivals dropped by 2.5 percent to 709,702 visitors, and correspondingly total visitors days also declined (-3.0%).

Visitor expenditures in the first seven months of 2007 grew to $7.1 billion, which was $12.2 million or .2 percent more than the same period last year. The average daily visitor spending for the first seven months of 2007 also increased 2.8 percent to $178 per person.

Year-to-date, total visitor days declined 2.6 percent compared to year-to-date 2006, while total arrivals dipped by 1.7 percent. Among the top four visitor markets, visitors from the U.S. West (+1.5%) and Canada (+1.1%) increased but arrivals from Japan (-4.2%) and the U.S. East (-3.9%) were lower compared to the first seven months of 2006.

"We are pleased that Japanese arrivals increased for the first time in over a year-and-a-half, as did overall visitor expenditures," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We are also encouraged with the continued increase in visitors coming to Hawai'i to honeymoon and get married."

• The overall honeymoon market grew 8.5 percent compared to July 2006, led by increases from Canada (+32.9%), Japan (+18.2%) and U.S. West (+4.6%).
• Visitors traveling to the islands to get married also jumped 14.5 percent largely due to increases from the U.S. West (+22.6%), U.S. East (+7.5%), and Canada (+3.2%).

• Visitors choosing hotel accommodations in July decreased 3.8 percent while timeshare visitors increased 2.6 percent and condo visitors also increased .7 percent.
• Japanese visitors staying in condos (+22.6%) and timeshare (+35.8%) increased in July.
• Besides the strong increase in Japanese visitors who stayed in timeshare properties, more U.S. West (+4.7%) and U.S. East (+2.2%) visitors also chose timeshare accommodations during the first seven months of 2007 than in the same period last year.
• For the first seven months of 2007, visitor spending on O'ahu dipped slightly by .5 percent to $3.2 billion. Visitor spending on Maui was the second highest at $2 billion (-3.6%), followed by the Big Island at $976.2 million (+5%) and Kaua'i at $767.9 million (+4.9%).

• Overall cruise visitor days for July 2007 rose 8 percent and the number of visitors who boarded an inter-island or out-of-state cruise ship grew 3.2 percent to 38,226 visitors. Cruise visitors who arrived by ship increased 122.2 percent compared to the same period in 2006.
• Year-to-date cruise visitors increased 32.2 percent to 293,833 visitors.

Technical Notes: 2006 air visitor data presented in this news release are the final numbers and differ from the preliminary figures published in the monthly reports for January through June 2007. 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