For Immediate Release: August 26, 2008
DBEDT Release News 08-23

July 2008 Visitor Expenditures Down 14.9 Percent

Note: July 2008 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU--Total expenditures by visitors who arrived by air decreased 5 percent to $7 billion in the first seven months of 2008, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

For the month of July 2008, total air visitor expenditures were down 14.9 percent or $177.3 million, from the same month last year, to $1 billion. The decline was caused by lower daily spending (-2.8% to $175 per person) and a 13.7 percent drop in visitor arrivals by air to 613,550 visitors.

Total visitor days for air and cruise visitors in July 2008 were off by 12.9 percent compared to the same month last year. Total arrivals by air and cruise visitors fell 14.1 percent from July 2007. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.42 days, compared to 9.29 days last July.

Among the top four visitor markets, air arrivals from Canada increased 15.6 percent compared to July 2007. Visitations from the U.S. West (-19.3%), U.S. East (-13.8%) and Japan (-11.7%) were down from the same month last year.

"Prior to June and July, Hawai‘i's visitor market had managed to weather the softness that was being felt by other travel destination as a result of the slowing national economy," said Marsha Wienert. "July was the second month we have seen a significant impact on the visitor industry due to a variety of factors, including the national economy, rising fuel prices, and the loss of the two Norwegian Cruise Line ships. As an example, 45 percent of O‘ahu's decline in arrivals can be attributed to decreased cruise visitors. The same holds true for the neighbor islands, where 83.7 percent of Kauai's, 46 percent of Maui's and 65 percent of the Big Island's decrease in arrivals are attributable to the decrease in cruise visitors.

"Even with the current challenges, our visitor industry is resilient and there is great potential in developing visitor markets. As witnessed this year and as can be seen in the 2007 Annual Visitor Research Report also released today, in addition to our core U.S. market in 2007, we saw exceptional double-digit increases in expenditures and visitors days by visitors from Canada, Oceania and Other Asia. With the easing of travel restrictions for Korean and Chinese visitors, there are tremendous possibilities from these countries and we anticipate a doubling of arrivals and spending from the Other Asia market within the next few years," Wienert added.

For the first seven months of 2008, total visitor days for air and cruise visitors decreased 5.6 percent. Total arrivals by air and cruise declined 6.6 percent from the same period last year to 4,165,242 visitors.

Year-to-date, arrivals by air totaled 4,112,992 visitors, down 6.4 percent from the same period last year. The average daily spending was slightly higher at $180 per person compared to $179 per person in the first seven months of 2007.

Other Highlights:

• In July 2008, all U.S. mainland regions showed double-digit declines in visitor arrivals compared to last July. Arrivals from the two largest regions, Pacific and Mountain were down 20.1 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively.
• There were more repeat visitors from the U.S. West in July 2008 compared to the same month last year (79.5% versus 78.3%). The average length of stay by all U.S. West visitors was up slightly to 9.83 days from 9.65 days in July 2007.
• The decrease in U.S. East visitors was partly due to fewer cruise ship visitors in the islands compared to last July.
• Similar to U.S. West visitors there were also more U.S. East repeat visitors in July 2008 (53.7%) compared to last July (52.1%). U.S. East visitors who came this July stayed 10.52 days, up from 10.26 days in the same month last year.
• The 15.6 percent growth in Canadian visitor arrivals in July 2008 further extended the visitor season for this market which saw double-digit growth in May (+21.9%) and June (+18.6%) compared to the same months last year. For the first seven months of 2008, Canadian arrivals increased 8.6 percent to 215,351 visitors. Supporting the increase in Canadian visitor arrivals were greater air seat capacity from Canada (+19.1%) statewide in July 2008, compared to the same month last year.
• There was more first-time visitors from Canada in July 2008 (43.9%) compared to the same month last year (38.4%). These visitors stayed an average of 11.72 days, up from 11.55 days in July 2007.
• Daily spending by Japanese visitors rose 7.5 percent to $271 per person in July 2008. However, lower visitor arrivals contributed to a 3.7 percent drop in total expenditures from this market to $163.8 million.
• There were more repeat visitors from Japan in July 2008 compared to the same month last year (62.3% versus 60%). Japanese visitors stayed 5.88 days in July 2008, compared to 5.80 days in the same month last year.

• All islands reported lower visitor expenditures this month compared to July 2007. Total expenditures on Maui decreased 27.4 percent to $233.8 million. Total expenditures on Hawai‘i Island were down 28.3 percent to $116.5 million while total expenditures on Kaua‘i dropped 17.8 percent to $107.8 million. However, visitor spending on O‘ahu declined just 2.8 percent to $546.3 million, shored up by a 5.6 percent increase in daily spending to $194 per person, up from $184 per person last July.

• For the first seven months of 2008 arrivals from Canada declined on O‘ahu (-3.7%), Kaua‘i (-17.2%), Hawai‘i Island (-6.8%), Lana‘i (-20.4%) and Moloka‘i(-.9%) but increased on Maui (+10.9%).
• Year-to-date, Japanese arrivals were lower on Maui (-20.7%), Kaua‘i (-14.8%), Hawai‘i Island (-13.1%) and O‘ahu (-6.1%) compared to the first seven months of 2007.
• For the first seven months of 2008, visitor arrivals were lower for all U.S. mainland regions compared to the same period last year.

July 2008 Cruise Ship Visitors

• One out-of-state cruise ship came to the islands in July 2008 with 657 visitors, compared to three ships which brought 3,753 visitors in the same month last year. Year-to-date, 52,250 visitors came by cruise ships, down 22.5 percent, while total visitor days declined 17.5 percent (See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2).
• In July 2008 a total of 10,149 cruise visitors came by air to board a cruise ship or arrived by cruise ship, compared to July 2007 when a total of 38,408 visitors came by air to board cruise ships or came by cruise ships to Hawai‘i. The average length of stay by all cruise visitors during the month was 9.79 days compared to 9.99 days in July 2007.

• The decline in total cruise visitors for July 2008 was mainly due to the departures of the Pride of Hawai‘i (in February 2008) and the Pride of Aloha (in mid May 2008).
• For the first seven months of 2008, a total of 158,722 visitors came by ship or by air to board cruise ships, 46.2 percent lower compared to the same period last year. Visitor days for all cruise visitors decreased 42.9 percent.

Note: the 2007 Annual Visitor Research Report can be viewed at: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/visitor-research

DBEDT today also announced the release of the 2007 Annual Visitor Research Report, which presents the final detailed statistics on the Hawai‘i visitor industry's performance in 2007 and provides a comprehensive comparison with revised 2006 * visitor data.

After three years of strong growth in 2004 (+8%), 2005 (+9.6%) and 2006 (+4.9%, revised), combined expenditures by visitors who came to Hawai‘i by air or by cruise ships continued to increase but at a more modest pace, up 2.6 percent from 2006 level, to a new record $12.8 billion. Total visitor days by air and cruise visitors grew .3 percent to 70.1 million days in 2007. A total of 7,627,819 visitors arrived by air or by cruise ships, virtually unchanged from 2006.

Additional highlights from the report:

• In 2007 Visitor days from the U.S. West, Hawai‘i's largest market, rose .6 percent from 2006, while visitor expenditures grew .2 percent to $4.8 billion.
• U.S. East visitor days in 2007 decreased 2.4 percent from the previous year, but higher daily spending boosted total expenditures from this market to $3.8 billion (+3.9%).
• Visitor days from Japan declined by 3.6 percent and visitor expenditures from this market fell 2.7 percent to $2 billion in 2007.

• Spending by visitors from Canada in 2007 climbed 24.8 percent from 2006, thanks to an 18.4 percent increase in visitor days and higher daily spending.
• Strong growth in visitor days from Oceania (+23.7%) contributed to a 30.1 percent increase in visitor expenditures for this market to $311.6 million in 2007.
• An 18.9 percent increase in visitor days from Other Asia in 2007 and noticeably higher daily spending (up 12.3% to $234 per person) boosted total visitor expenditures to $253.6 million (+33.5%).
• Visitor days by European visitors in 2007 rose .5 percent while visitor spending was up 4.1 percent to $231.8 million.
• The number of visitors who entered Hawai‘i on board cruise ships in 2007, rose 31 percent from 2006 to 130,999 visitors. However, total spending by visitors who arrived by cruise ships were 18.2 percent lower than the previous year at $47.6 million.

• Of the $12.8 billion in visitor expenditures by both air and cruise visitors in 2007, $6.1 billion were spent on O‘ahu, up 1.2 percent from the previous year. Combined, air and cruise visitor expenditures on Maui increased 1.1 percent to $3.5 billion in 2007. Spending on Hawai‘i Island by air and cruise visitors rose 3.2 percent from 2006 to $1.7 billion. Expenditures by air and cruise visitors on Kaua‘i totaled $1.4 billion in 2007, up 9.9 percent from the previous year.
• December was the busiest month in 2007 with 217,970 visitors present in Hawai‘i on any given day (average daily census), up from 211,735 visitors in 2006. July was the second busiest month in 2007 with 213,027 visitors daily. 2007 was the first time in recent years that July was not the month with the heaviest visitor traffic.
• As in the previous year, the summer season continued to level off; a result of a decline in average daily census in July (-3.2%), and increases in June (+.3%) and August (+4.5%).

• The shift in peak total arrivals from July to December was caused by concurrent declines in July for Domestic (-3%) and International (-3.8%) arrivals and simultaneous increases in December (+.5% for Domestic and +12.3% for International).

The report also includes visitor characteristics and expenditures by major market areas (U.S., Japan, Canada, Europe, Oceania, Other Asia and Latin America), by select countries, by purpose of trip, by accommodation, by first-time/repeat visitor status, and by island. Detailed spending categories by major market areas and by island are also reported.

Also presented is a profile of Hawai‘i's cruise visitors and their spending characteristics, visitor room inventory, hotel occupancy and room rates, and air seat capacity to Hawai‘i data.

The 2007 Annual Visitor Research Report is available in Adobe Acrobat format on the DBEDT Web Site: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/visitor-research

A limited number of the printed reports will be available in early-September 2008 for pick up free of charge, at:

DBEDT - Research & Economic Analysis Division
One Capitol District Building
250 South Hotel Street, Suite 435
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813
Phone: (808) 586-2466

A shipping and handling charge per report will be applied to all mailing requests. Only checks will be accepted.

For further information on the reports, contact the DBEDT's Research and Economic Analysis Division at (808) 586-2466 or trb@dbedt.hawaii.gov.

* Technical Notes - Revisions to 2006 statistics: 2006 visitor statistics presented in the 2007 Annual Visitor Research report (including visitor expenditures, visitor days, visitor arrivals, average daily census, length of stay, accommodations, purpose of trip, visitor characteristics by major markets and by island, etc.) were revised from 2006 data published in DBEDT's 2006 Annual Visitor Research Report released in July 2007.

Figures were revised to reflect additional passenger and immigration data which were obtained after publication of the 2006 Annual Research Report. Cruise visitor statistics, hotel occupancy, room rates and air seat statistics were not affected.

For more information, contact:
Marsha Wienert, Tourism Liaison
Phone: (808) 586-2362
Email: marsha.wienert@hawaii.gov

Dave Young, DBEDT
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov