For Immediate Release: October 18, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-25

Visitors Very Likely to Recommend Hawai‘i to Others

Note: The 2006 Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Report can be viewed at: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats

HONOLULU - Visitors to Hawai‘i in 2006 gave high marks for their overall experience. Similar to last year, two-thirds (66.6%) of U.S. visitors and just over half (51.7%) of Japanese visitors rated their most recent trip to Hawai‘i as "excellent," according to statistics from the 2006 Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Report released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"Hawai‘i residents working in all sectors of our visitor industry should be proud of their efforts to uphold this high level of visitor satisfaction," said Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "High satisfaction will ensure a strong visitor industry. Satisfying visitors' needs and expectations encourages return trips and results in a higher likelihood to recommend Hawai‘i to others."

An overwhelming majority of U.S. West (88.4%), U.S. East (86.7%), Canadian (84.8%), and European (76.1%) visitors said they were very likely to recommend Hawai‘i as a vacation place to their friends and family. More than two-thirds (69%) of Japanese visitors also answered that they were very likely to recommend Hawai‘i.

The 2006 report details information collected from a survey of visitors specifically from the top five major market areas (MMA): U.S. West, U.S. East, Japan, Canada and Europe about their satisfaction with different experiences in the islands, the activities they participated in, their likelihood to recommend/revisit Hawai‘i, their trip planning process, and detailed visitor characteristics including secondary purpose of trip, other destinations recently visited, travel companions, income, employment and education.

Additional highlights from the report:

Overall Island Experience

It should be noted that each island was rated as excellent by a majority of visitors in 2006. However, each MMA had its favorite destinations.

• Nearly two-thirds (65.9%) of U.S. West visitors felt their experience on Maui was excellent, followed closely by Lana'i (65.2%) and Kaua‘i (62.7%).
• Many U.S. East visitors found excellent experiences on Maui (73.5%) and Kaua‘i (72.3%).
• The Japanese market's highest rated destinations were Lana'i (56.3%), Kona (54.5%) and O‘ahu (53%).
• Canadian visitors found Maui (67.7%) and Kaua‘i (63%) to more likely offer an excellent experience.
• Europeans felt that the islands of Kaua‘i (67.7%) and Maui (63.8%) provided an excellent experience.

Participation in Activities By Island

• O‘ahu was frequented by visitors who shopped in department stores and hotel stores. Swap meets and convenience stores were also popular shopping places on O‘ahu. Visitors were more likely to visit a nightclub on O‘ahu than on other islands.
• Among the U.S. West, U.S. East, Canadian and European visitors, Maui was the place to be for recreational activities. Visitors were more likely to participate in boat/submarine/whale watching, snorkeling/scuba diving or jet skiing/parasailing /windsurfing activities than on most other islands. The majority of visitors on Maui also used a rental car as their transportation.
• Visitors to Kaua‘i were more likely to take a helicopter or plane tour than on other islands. Kaua‘i was also popular, across all major market areas, for backpacking/hiking/ camping and for its art/craft fairs.
• Kona's reputation among all major market areas was as a place of historic sites and golf. Snorkeling/scuba diving were also popular among all markets except Japanese visitors.
• Compared to activities at other destinations, Hilo visitors were more likely to be on tour bus excursions and enjoy some backpacking/hiking/camping.
• Moloka‘i visitors were typically self-guided and took in historic sites.
• Visitors to Lana'i were more adapt to be playing golf or using the gym/health spa.

Participation in Activities By Market

• U.S. West visitors tended to be more independent travelers which resulted in high numbers using a rental car (76.9%) and doing self-guided tours (79.6%). Most U.S. West visitors shopped (93.6%) but leaned to shopping at supermarkets (69.8%) and swap meets (34.4%).
• In contrast to their U.S. West counterparts, U.S. East visitors were generally more into swimming/sunbathing/beach (79.9%) and less into other types of recreational activities. U.S. East visitors were also more involved in sight-seeing (90.2%) and culture (80.6%) activities.
• Even though the Japanese visited all island, much of their activities were concentrated on O‘ahu. Japanese were less likely to participate in recreation (80.7%) and culture (55.7%) activities than other visitor markets. Instead Japanese visitors exceedingly participated in Hawai‘i's entertainment (87.7%) and shopping (98.3%).
• Canadian visitors were generally the most active relative to other major market areas during their trip to Hawai‘i. Almost all visitors did some shopping (97.1%) and recreation (93.7%). In terms of recreation, Canadians loved to go swimming/sunbathing/ beach (88.9%), snorkeling/scuba diving (52.1%) and a fair amount did running/ jogging/fitness walking (45.7%). Many visited historic sites (61.3%) and over half (52%) went to a Polynesian show/lu'au.
• Many European visitors spent time shopping (96.1%), sightseeing (94%), in recreation (91.4%), and utilizing transportation (91.1%). A large amount of visitors went to historic sites (63.7%) and on self-guided tours (72.3%). European visitors had the highest propensity to shop at supermarkets (74.8%) and department stores (70.5%) statewide.

Trip Planning

The value of the Internet as a trip-planning tool is high among U.S., Canadian and European visitors. In addition, nearly two-thirds of Japanese visitors (62.1%) used the Internet to plan and seek out information in 2006. Assistance from travel agents for trip-planning was low in the U.S. market (approximately one-third of U.S. visitors) but continues to be a strong factor in the Japanese (91.2%) and European (71.6%) markets.

Among those visitors who did use the Internet, the way in which the Internet was used for planning and booking of trips differed between the U.S. and Japan markets.

• The number one use for the Internet by U.S. visitors was online airline reservations. This use has increased steadily from 40.8 percent in 2002 to 71.5 percent in 2006.
• Use of the Internet for rental car reservation has also increased to over half of U.S. visitors. In particular, 55.8 percent of U.S West made their rental car reservations through the Internet.
• Use of the Internet among Japanese has not changed much over the past four years. Among Japanese Internet users, the Internet was mainly used to find a hotel or place to stay (66.3%). Locating shopping places (41.4%) or sightseeing places (37.6%) remained a popular use. Few Japanese used the Internet for airline (20.1%), hotel (22.7%) or car (11.5%) reservations. Also, very few used it to estimate costs (15.1%).

Respondent Profile:

* For Japanese household income the categories were: less than 5 million yen (approximately $43,000) or more than 15 million yen (approximately $129,000).

The 2006 Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Report is available in Adobe Acrobat format on the DBEDT Web Site: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/vsat

For further information on the reports, contact the DBEDT's Research and Economic Analysis Division at 586-2466.

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