Hawaii Tourism Authority launches interactive website tool
The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Tourism Research Division has launched a new and comprehensive interactive tool on its website that combines various data sources into one report to provide a quick look at data and insights, including visitor statistics and top points of interest for both visitors and residents. It includes HTA’s visitor statistics, Hawaii Hotel Report, Hawaii Vacation Rental Performance Report, Hawaii Quarterly Timeshare Survey, and geolocation data.
The Symphony Dashboards page includes summary dashboards for the state, as well as island summaries for Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii Island. For example, in April 2021, it indicated that Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki on Oahu was the singular most visited point of interest in the state, and that 60% of those who went to Kalakaua Avenue were Hawaii residents versus 40% who were visitors from out of state. The second most visited point of interest was on Maui – the Lahaina Bypass with 57% residents and 43% visitors.
HTA contracted location data company UM, formerly known as UberMedia, to gather this information which uses geolocation data from smartphones. Users can select other time periods from the drop-down menu. The data that UM collects through mobile applications is anonymous and presented in aggregate; individual users/devices cannot be identified.
“Our Tourism Research Division continues to provide essential data and reporting that the visitor industry, key stakeholders and other businesses throughout Hawaii and around the world rely on,” said John De Fries, HTA president and CEO. “These new dashboards offer a wealth of valuable information on a statewide and county level, which is needed especially during this time in which HTA is stepping up its destination management efforts.”
In addition to the top points of interest visited, the summary dashboards show key visitor metrics, market share by origin markets, and a ranking of the top ten international markets, as well as the top ten domestic markets.
The lodging summary dashboard highlights metrics for hotels, vacation or short-term rentals, and timeshares all in one place to provide a holistic view of Hawaii accommodations.
The visitation insights dashboards allow for generating cross visitation lists by clicking on the name of a point of interest. For example, in April 2021, the majority of visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park also visited Kailua-Kona town.
For visitation by residents, users can also select the county of residence they would like to view. This offers insights to how residents of each county frequent points of interest within their county, and also through interisland travel. For example, in April 2021, Chinatown was the most visited point of interest for Oahu by residents of the City and County of Honolulu, and Kukui Grove Shopping Center was the top location visited by Maui County residents who traveled to Kauai.
For 2021 time periods, a comparison to 2019 is presented. All other years present a true year-over-year comparison.
HTA contracted Tourism Economics, a leading global travel and tourism economic analytics firm, to provide the Symphony Dashboards, which can be viewed at: www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/symphony-dashboards/
