For Immediate Release: September 23, 2004
DBEDT Release News 04-29

Note: August 2004 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU – Continued growth in visitor arrivals from both the domestic and international markets contributed to a 2.9 percent increase in total visitor arrivals in August 2004, according to data released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Domestic visitors arriving by air reached a new record for August, rising 2 percent to 459,561 visitors. International visitor arrivals continued to increase for the sixth consecutive month, up 5.4 percent with growth from both the Japanese and Canadian markets.

Total visitor days in August were 2.1 percent lower compared to the same month last year due to a shorter average length of stay. However, on a year-to-date basis, total visitor days were up 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Total visitor expenditures are higher year-to-date by 6.2 percent, but decreased 3.7 percent to $919.8 million in August 2004.

"We are pleased to see that Hawaii's top two markets, the U.S. West and U.S. East, continue to report strong arrival growth. Domestic arrivals have reached record levels every month since February this year," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.

"The state's strong honeymoon and destination weddings market segment continued to out perform last year," said Wienert. "Total visitors whose purpose was to honeymoon or get married increased 11.6 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively."

Year-to-Date 2004 Air Visitor Statistics are presented below:

• Total air visitors: Total visitor days for the first eight months of 2004 increased 4.3 percent, compared to the same period last year to 42.9 million. Total arrivals rose 8.6 percent to 4,678,343 visitors while the average length of stay by these visitors was 9.18 days.
• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days exceeded year-to-date 2003 levels by 3.2 percent, due to growth in arrivals (+6.6%) that offset a shorter length of stay (9.90 days, compared to 10.23 days in year-to-date 2003). The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 92 percent of total domestic arrivals was 5.6 percent higher compared to year-to-date 2003. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.
• International air visitors: International visitor days rose 8.2 percent due to a 13.8 percent growth in international arrivals to 1,329,850 visitors. Those who came during the first eight months of 2004 stayed an average of 7.35 days.

• Total repeat/first-time visitors: Repeat visitors comprised 62.1 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii compared to 63.2 percent for year-to-date 2003.
• Arrivals by Island: Visitor arrivals increased on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island compared to the same period last year.
• Purpose of trip: More visitors came to vacation (+9.5%), honeymoon (+12.9%), get married (+13.9%), visit friends or relatives (+8%) and for other business (+12.1%) compared to year-to-date 2003.
• Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):

  U.S. West: U.S. West visitor days were slightly lower (-0.2%) compared to year-to-date 2003. U.S. West arrivals rose 3.4 to 1,871,920 visitors, but was offset by a shorter average length of stay (9.55 days compared to 9.90 days in year-to-date 2003). More of these visitors came to vacation, honeymoon, get married, and visit friends or relatives compared to the same period last year.

  U.S. East: Increased arrivals from the U.S. East (+9.2% to 1,273,363 visitors) contributed to a 5.9 percent growth in visitor days compared to year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 10.28 days. Similar to their U.S. West counterpart, more U.S. East visitors came to honeymoon, get married, vacation and visit friends or relatives.

Japan: Japanese visitor days grew 13.8 percent as a total of 950,441 visitors came during the first eight months of 2004, up 17.2 percent from the same period last year. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.86 days. More Japanese visitors came to vacation, get married, honeymoon, for meetings, conventions and incentives, and to visit friends and relatives compared to year-to-date 2003. Repeat visitors comprised 56.4 percent of the total, compared to 56.1 percent in the same period last year.

Canada: Canadian visitor days were up .4 percent. A total of 145,447 Canadian visitors came to the islands, virtually unchanged from year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 13.38 days.

August 2004 and Year-to-date Cruise visitors:

A total of 17,390 out-of-state visitors, including those who arrived by air to board these ships and those who came with the ships toured the islands in August 2004. These visitors were passengers of two Hawaii-home ported ships, the Norwegian Wind and the Pride of Aloha, and one out-of-state cruise ship. The number of visitors this August was 78 percent greater compared to the same month last year when there was only one Hawaii home-ported ship, the Norwegian Star, that carried 9,792 out-of-state visitors.

Year-to-date, there were a total of 43 cruise ship arrivals, carrying 129,679 out-of-state visitors. This was 15.8 percent below the same period last year, which saw 45 cruise ship arrivals and 153,996 passengers.

The decrease in cruise visitors was mainly due to a shift in scheduling, which brought fewer out-of-state cruise ships with less passenger capacity to the islands in the first eight months of 2004. Additionally, the Norwegian Star was the only Hawaii-home ported ship in the first four months of 2004, compared to the same period last year when both the Norwegian Star and the Norwegian Wind were based in Hawaii. In May 2004, the Norwegian Wind returned to Hawaii but the Norwegian Star departed.

Included in the August statistics is passenger count from the new Hawaii home based cruise ship the Pride of Aloha which began offering inter-island cruises in late June.

Repeat visitors to the islands comprised 56.8 percent of the out-of-state cruise visitors during year-to-date 2004, compared to 58 percent in the same period last year. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 7.9 days in Hawaii, of which 5.2 days were spent on their cruise and another 2.80 days were spent before and after their cruise.

• Total visitor expenditures: Total expenditures by visitors who came by air in August 2004 declined 3.7 percent from the same month last year to $919.8 million. Total spending by U.S. West visitors was the highest at $365.4 million (-12.8%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East at $241.4 million (+2.4%), Japan at $193.8 million (+5.8%) and Canada at $16.1 million (+19.7%).

  By island, visitor spending on Oahu increased 3.5 percent to $442.8 million. Spending by visitors on Maui was second at $253.5 million (-5.4%), followed by visitor spending on the Big Island (-16.5% to $115.5 million), Kauai (-9.8% to $100.7 million), Lanai (-20.3% to $4.9 million) and Molokai (-30.1% to $2.4 million).

  Year-to-date, air visitors spent a total of $6.9 billion while in Hawaii. U.S. West visitors spent $2.5 billion (-2.5%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East (+9.8% to $2.1 billion), Japan (+20.2% to $1.4 billion) and Canada (+1% to $235.4 million). Visitors from All Other Major Market Areas (MMAs) spent $704.7 million (+6.9%) so far this year.

  For the first eight months of 2004, visitor spending on Oahu totaled $3.3 billion (+10.8%). Visitor spending on Maui was $2 billion (+0.1%), followed by the Big Island at $806.6 million (+0.2%), Kauai at $759 million (+13.2%), Lanai at $41.6 million (-11.7%) and Molokai at $18.1 million (-17.2%).

• Per person per day expenditures: Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $214 per person in August 2004, followed by those from the U.S. East ($171 per person), from All Other MMAs ($158 per person), from the U.S. West ($135 per person) and from Canada ($113 per person).

  The average daily spending by Japanese visitors was $244 per person during the first eight months of 2004. Visitors from the U.S. East spent $161 per person, followed by visitors from All Other MMAs ($159 per person), the U.S. West ($139 per person) and from Canada ($122 per person).

• Per person per trip expenditures: Visitors from the U.S. East spent the most per trip at $1,758 per person in August 2004, followed by those from All Other MMAs at $1,620 per person, from Canada at $1,377 per person, from Japan at $1,364 per person and from the U.S. West at $1,256 per person.

  Year-to-date U.S. East visitors spent $1,652 per person per trip, followed by visitors from Canada ($1,634 per person), from All Other markets ($1,612 per person), Japan ($1,433 per person) and the U.S. West ($1,332 per person).

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