For Immediate Release: November 29, 2004
DBEDT Release News 04-36

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

Total Visitor Days, Arrivals and Spending Continue to Increase

HONOLULU - Increases in visitor arrivals from both the domestic and international markets contributed to a 4 percent growth in total visitor days for October 2004 compared to the same month last year, according to data released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Arrivals from the domestic sector continue to be strong, rising 9.8 percent to a new October record of 383,576 visitors. International visitor arrivals increased 9.3 percent. Arrivals from Japan rose 8.5 percent while Canadian visitor arrivals jumped 17 percent compared to October 2003.

In addition, total visitor expenditures rose 8.9 percent to $849.9 million for this October and 6.8 percent to $8.5 billion on a year-to-date basis.

"Hawaii's visitor industry has had exceptional growth this year," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsh Weinert. "Contributing to the October increase was a 10.4 percent growth in airline seats. The honeymoon market continues to remain strong, as evidenced by the 13.6 percent increase in this market segment in October," continued Weinert.

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

• Total air visitors: Total visitor days for the first ten months of 2004 increased 4.6 percent, compared to the same period last year to 52.2 million. Total arrivals rose 8.8 percent to 5,759,079 visitors and their average length of stay was 9.06 days.

• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days were 3.8 percent higher compared to year-to-date 2003, due to growth in arrivals (+7.4%) that offset a shorter length of stay (9.84 days, versus 10.18 days in year-to-date 2003). The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 91.6 percent of total domestic arrivals, rose 6.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.
• International air visitors: International visitor days grew 7.3 percent due to a 12.4 percent increase in international arrivals to 1,676,684 visitors. Those who came during the first ten months of 2004 stayed an average of 7.15 days.
• Total repeat/first-time visitors: Repeat visitors comprised 61.4 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii comparable to the 62.5 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: A greater number of visitors came to vacation (+10.4%), honeymoon (+9.9%), get married (+5.9%), visit friends or relatives (+7.6%) and for other business (+11.1%) compared to year-to-date 2003.
• Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):

  U.S. West: U.S. West visitor days grew 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year due to a 4.5 percent increase in arrivals to 2,289,405 visitors. The average length of stay was 9.49 days. 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: Growth in arrivals from the U.S. East (+9.6% to 1,528,783 visitors) contributed to a 6.2 percent increase in visitor days compared to year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 10.20 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 rose 11.3 percent as total arrivals grew 14 percent to 1,218,904 visitors year-to-date. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.79 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.

Canada: Canadian visitor days increased 1.0 percent. A total of 168,550 Canadian visitors came to the islands, 2.2 percent higher than year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 13.15 days.

October 2004 and Year-to-date Cruise visitors:

A total of 35,441 out-of-state visitors, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came with the ships, toured the islands during October 2004. These visitors were passengers of two Hawaii-home ported ships, the Norwegian Wind and the Pride of Aloha, and nine out-of-state cruise ships. The number of visitors this October was 56.6 percent higher than the same month last year when six out-of-state cruise ships and one Hawaii home-ported ship, the Norwegian Star, carried 22,626 out-of-state visitors around the islands.

Year-to-date, there were a total of 59 cruise ship arrivals, carrying 186,300 out-of-state visitors. This was 3.1 percent below the same period last year, which saw 57 cruise ship arrivals and 192,326 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 half 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. Since late June 2004 the Pride of Aloha has been home based in Hawaii offering inter-island cruises.

Repeat visitors to the islands comprised 56.6 percent of the out-of-state cruise visitors during year-to-date 2004, compared to 57.8 percent in the same period last year. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 8.1 days in Hawaii, of which 5.4 days were spent on their cruise and another 2.7 days were spent before and after their cruise.

• Total visitor expenditures: Total expenditures by visitors who came by air in October 2004 rose 8.9 percent from the same month last year to $849.9 million. All four major markets reported growth in visitor expenditures compared to October 2003. Total spending by U.S. West visitors was the highest at $300.8 million (+3.8%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East at $241.2 million (+29.2%), Japan at $192.6 million (+0.6%) and Canada at $21.2 million (+11.5%).

  By island, visitor spending on Oahu increased 8 percent to $429.7 million. Spending by visitors on Maui was second at $226.8 million, up 12.0 percent.

  Year-to-date, air visitors spent a total of $8.5 billion (+6.8%) while in Hawaii. U.S. West visitors spent $3.1 billion (-1.3%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East (+11.9% to $2.5 billion), Japan (+15.5% to $1.7 billion) and Canada (+3.3% to $273 million).

  For the first ten months of 2004, visitor spending on Oahu totaled $4.1 billion (+10.4%). Visitor spending on Maui was $2.4 billion (+1.1%), followed by the Big Island at $1 billion (+3.3%), Kauai at $932 million (+12.7%), Lanai at $49.6 million (-11.9%) and Molokai at $21.7 million (-16.2%).

• Per person per day expenditures: Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $255 per person in October 2004, followed by those from the U.S. East ($178 per person).

  The average daily spending by Japanese visitors was $246 per person during the first ten months of 2004. Visitors from the U.S. East spent $163 per person, followed by visitors from All Other MMAs ($162 per person), the U.S. West ($142 per person) and from Canada ($123 per person).

• Per person per trip expenditures: Visitors from the U.S. East spent the most per trip at $1,737 per person in October 2004, followed by those from All Other MMAs at $1,648 per person, Canada at $1,478 per person, the U.S. West at $1,421 per person and Japan at $1,395 per person.

  Year-to-date U.S. East visitors spent $1,665 per person per trip, followed by visitors from All Other markets ($1,624 per person), Canada ($1,621 per person), Japan ($1,427 per person) and the U.S. West ($1,344 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