Hawaii visitor spending in April surges to US$1.42 billion

“Hawaii tourism continued to enjoy the benefits of increased air seat capacity and strong travel demand during the shoulder month of April, as visitor spending grew … to $1.42 billion,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).

Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands showed an increase of 13.4 percent compared to last year, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).

Hawaii’s four largest visitor markets, U.S. West (+11.7% to $547.8 million), U.S. East (+4% to $310.5 million), Japan (+7.1% to $155.9 million) and Canada (+10% to $99.4 million), all reported gains in visitor spending in April year-over-year. Combined visitor spending from All Other International Markets (+34.7% to $297.6 million) also increased in April versus last year.

Visitors also spent more on an average daily basis from U.S. West (+4.8% to $184 per person), U.S. East (+1.4% to $218 per person), Japan (+4.5% to $232 per person) and Canada (+7.6% to $160 per person) in April compared to a year ago.

Total visitor arrivals rose 6.6 percent to 803,005 visitors in April, supported by growth in arrivals from both air service (+6.5% to 786,053) and cruise ships (+11.7% to 16,951). Total visitor days[1] increased 5.5 percent in April. The average daily census[2], or the number of visitors on any given day in April, was 227,729, up 5.5 percent compared to April of last year.

Visitor arrivals increased from U.S. West (+8% 347,729), U.S. East (+4.1% to 153,606), Japan (+2.9% to 112,734), Canada (+6.4% to 52,073) and All Other International Markets (+9.2% to 119,910) in April versus last year.

All four larger Hawaiian Islands realized growth in visitor spending and arrivals in April compared to last year.

A total of 1,084,745 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in April, up 10.9 percent from a year ago. Growth in air seat capacity from Oceania (+15.5%), U.S. West (+14.8%), U.S. East (+12%), Canada (+1.1%) and Japan (+0.7%) offset fewer seats from Other Asia (-0.8%).

Year-to-Date 2018

Year-to-date through April 2018, visitor spending (+10.8% to $6.24 billion) surpassed the results from the same period last year. Visitor spending increased from U.S. West (+9.5% to $2.22 billion), U.S. East (+11% to $1.59 billion), Japan (+8.9% to $771.5 million), Canada (+8% to $567.6 million) and from All Other International Markets (+16.7% to $1.07 billion) compared to last year.

Statewide average daily spending rose to $210 per person (+3.6%) through the first four months of 2018 compared to the same period of a year ago.

Year-to-date, statewide visitor arrivals increased (+8.7% to 3,281,609) versus last year. Visitor arrivals increased from U.S. West (+12% to 1,310,192), U.S. East (+8.4% to 721,101), Canada (+6.3% to 259,760) and All Other International Markets (+12.8% to 438,249), while arrivals from Japan (+0.4% to 495,399) were comparable.

Other Highlights:

• U.S. West: Visitor arrivals increased from the Pacific (+7.6%) and Mountain (+10.9%) regions in April compared to a year ago, with growth reported from Oregon (+27.6%), Utah (+21.7%), Colorado (+20%), Washington (+12.3%), Arizona (+8.9%) and California (+4.4%). Through the first four months, arrivals rose from the Mountain (+12.7%) and Pacific (+12%) regions versus the same period last year.

• U.S. East: In April, growth in visitor arrivals from the New England (+29.5%), West South Central (+22.9%), East South Central (+8.5%), West North Central (+5.6%) and East North Central (+3.7%) regions offset decreases from the Mid Atlantic (-11%) and South Atlantic (-1%) regions. Year-to-date through April, all regions showed increases in arrivals, highlighted by growth from the two largest regions, South Atlantic (+10.1%) and East North Central (+10.1%).

• Japan: Visitor arrivals in April were boosted by the start of Golden Week, traditionally a period of growth for outbound Japan travel. Golden Week is a string of four holidays that occurs from April 29 through May 5 each year. The combination of holidays and weekends creates a longer-than-normal vacation period that is favorable to long-haul destinations like Hawaii. Visitors traveling to Hawaii for Golden Week started arriving April 28. More visitors stayed in hotels (+4.4%) in April versus last year. Stays in condominiums (+0.3%) were similar to last April, while stays in timeshares (-1.8%) were down. Fewer visitors purchased group tours (-5.2%) and package trips (-4.7%), while more visitors made their own travel arrangements (+15.8%).

• Canada: Significantly more visitors stayed in rental homes (+46%) in April. Stays in hotels (+7.1%) also increased compared to last April.

• MCI: A total of 52,982 visitors came for meetings, conventions and incentives (MCI) in April, up 8.3 percent compared to last year. More visitors came to attend conventions (+28.5%) but fewer visitors traveled on incentive trips (-9% to 19,527) compared to last April. Contributing to the growth in convention visitors were the more than 10,000 out-of-state delegates who attended the 2018 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology event at the Hawaii Convention Center. Year-to-date through April, total MCI visitors was up slightly (+0.6% to 199,570) from the same period last year.