For Immediate Release: December 29, 2004
DBEDT Release News 04-38

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

Total Visitor Days, Arrivals and Spending Continue to Increase

HONOLULU--Total visitor days for November 2004 rose 4 percent compared to the same month last year, according to data released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Total visitor expenditures grew 2.7 percent to $795.4 million for this November and increased 5.6 percent to $9.3 billion on a year-to-date basis.

Contributing to the increase was a 7.6 percent growth in domestic arrivals to a new November high of 365,495 visitors. International visitor arrivals was relatively flat (-0.4%) as Japanese arrivals declined slightly (-0.8%) while Canadian arrivals rose 6.3 percent.

"Total visitor days increased 6.9% and record 4,447,890 visitors arrived from the domestic market during the first eleven months of 2004," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "This exceptional growth was stimulated by strong arrival increases from all nine regions of the mainland U.S aided by greater air seat capacity to the islands."

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

• Total air visitors: Total visitor days for the first eleven months of 2004 rose 6.9 percent, compared to the same period last year to 56.7 million. Total arrivals increased 8.5 percent to 6,285,740 visitors and their average length of stay was 9.03 days.
• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days were 7.1 percent higher compared to year-to-date 2003, due to a 7.4 percent growth in arrivals. The average length of stay was relatively unchanged at 9.82 days. The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 90.8 percent of total domestic arrivals, increased 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: An 11.1 percent increase in arrivals to 1,837,850 visitors contributed to a 6.1 percent growth in international visitor days. The average length of stay was 7.10 days.
• Total repeat/first-time visitors: Repeat visitors comprised 61.4 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii comparable to the 62.4 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 (+9.6%), honeymoon (+11.1%), get married (+4.8%), visit friends or relatives (+7.7%) and for other business (+11%) compared to year-to-date 2003.
• Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):

  U.S. West: U.S. West visitor days rose 4.1 percent compared to the same period last year due to a 4.7 percent increase in arrivals to 2,507,775 visitors. The average length of stay was 9.48 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 (+9.4% to 1,646,171 visitors) contributed to a 9.4 percent increase in visitor days compared to year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 10.18 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 10.1 percent as total arrivals rose 12.5 percent to 1,341,773 visitors year-to-date. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.77 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 was 1.1 percent higher compared to the same period last year. A total of 187,590 Canadian visitors came to the islands, up 2.6 percent from than year-to-date 2003. The average length of stay was 13.10 days.

November 2004 and year-to-date Cruise Visitors:

A total of 30,502 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 November 2004. These visitors were passengers of two Hawaii-home ported ships, the Norwegian Wind and the Pride of Aloha, and five out-of-state cruise ships. The number of visitors this November almost doubled the same month last year when three out-of-state cruise ships and one Hawaii home-ported ship, the Norwegian Star, carried 15,673 out-of-state visitors around the islands.

Year-to-date, there were a total of 69 cruise ship arrivals, carrying 216,802 out-of-state visitors. This was 4.2 percent higher than the same period last year, which saw 61 cruise ship arrivals and 207,999 passengers.

Repeat visitors to the islands comprised 57 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 5.5 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 November 2004 increased 2.7 percent from the same month last year to $795.4 million. U.S. West and U.S. East markets reported growth in visitor expenditures compared to November 2003. Total spending by U.S. West visitors was the highest at $315.9 million (+7.5%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East at $193.1 million (+6.3%), Japan at $185.9 million (-1.9%) and Canada at $28.8 million (-10.2%).

  By island, visitor spending on Oahu dipped slightly by .5 percent to $392.4 million. Spending by visitors on Maui was second at $208.9 million, up 4.9 percent.

  Year-to-date, air visitors spent a total of $9.3 billion (+5.6%) while in Hawaii. U.S. West visitors spent $3.4 billion (-2.2%), followed by visitors from the U.S. East (+10.5% to $2.7 billion), Japan (+13.6% to $1.9 billion) and Canada (+2.2% to $302 million).

  For the first eleven months of 2004, visitor spending on Oahu totaled $4.5 billion (+9.3%). Visitor spending on Maui was $2.6 billion (+1.0%), followed by the Big Island at $1.1 billion (+1.6%), Kauai at $1 million (+10.1%), Lanai at $54.6 million (-21.3%) and Molokai at $23.8 million (-16.9%).

• Per person per day expenditures: Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $274 per person in November 2004, followed by those from the U.S. East ($166 per person).

  The average daily spending by Japanese visitors was $249 per person during the first eleven months of 2004. Visitors from the U.S. East spent $163 per person, followed by visitors from All Other markets ($161 per person), the U.S. West ($143 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 $1,645 per person in November 2004, followed by those from Japan at $1,513 per person, Canada at $1,511 per person, the U.S. West at $1,447 per person and All Other markets at $1,465 per person.

  Year-to-date U.S. East visitors spent $1,664 per person per trip, followed by visitors from All Other markets ($1,611 per person), Canada ($1,610 per person), U.S. West ($1,353 per person) and Japan ($1,435 per person).

DBEDT today also released the new 2003 Annual Visitor Research Report, which details the state of Hawaii's visitor industry in 2003 and provides a comprehensive comparison with 2002 visitor data. Statistics include: visitor days, visitor arrivals and length of stay by direction of travel, by island, by major market areas (MMAs), by purpose of trip, by accommodation and by first-time/repeat visitor status; detailed visitor expenditures by MMA, by island and by category, and air seat capacity data to Hawaii. Also presented are statistics on visitor age and gender distributions by MMA, visitor room inventory, hotel occupancy and room rates. In addition, a profile of Hawaii's cruise passengers and their spending in 2003 is provided.

The 2003 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 2003 Annual Visitor Research Report will be available in mid January 2005 for pick up at:

DBEDT - Research & Analysis Division
One Capitol District Building
250 South Hotel Street, 4th Floor, Diamond Head Wing
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Phone: (808) 586-2466

A shipping and handling charge per report will be applied to all mailing requests at the following rates: $3.50 (U.S. Domestic); $4.00 (Canada); $5.50 (Mexico) and $10.00 (Other International). Only checks will be accepted.

For further information on the report, contact the DBEDT's Research and Economic Analysis Division at 586-2466.

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