For Immediate Release: February 28, 2005
DBEDT Release News 05-07

Note: January 2005 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

Visitor Spending Continues to Climb - $961 Million Last Month

HONOLULU--Continued strong growth in arrivals from both the domestic and international visitor markets contributed to a 14 percent increase in total visitor days for January 2005, compared to the same month last year, according to data released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Total arrivals grew 15.9 percent to 599,957 visitors setting a new record for the month of January. The strong growth was attributed to double-digit increases in Japanese arrivals (19.1 percent) and domestic arrivals (10.7 percent).

Total expenditures by air visitors surpassed the same month last year by 11.6 percent to $960.8 million.

Additionally, the number of cruise passengers touring the islands jumped 46.6 percent compared to January 2004.

"These impressive visitor statistics are a great way to start 2005 and illustrate the tremendous resurgence of our visitor industry which began in January 2003," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "Contributing to the exceptional growth in arrivals are strong increases in air seat capacity to the State. Domestic air seats rose 11.3 percent while international air seats grew 15 percent."

Highlights from January 2005 preliminary visitor statistics:

• Total air visitors: A new January record of 599,957 visitors arrived in Hawaii, up 15.9 percent compared to the same month last year. The average length of stay by these visitors was 10.23 days.
• Domestic air visitors: Domestic arrivals rose 10.7 percent to a January best of 385,107 visitors. The average length of stay was relatively unchanged at 11.61 days. The number of U.S. visitors, which comprised 91.2 percent of total domestic arrivals, grew 12.2 percent compared to January 2004 with increases from the Pacific Region, the Mountain Region, the West North Central Region, the West South Central Region, the East North Central Region, the New England Region and the South Atlantic Region. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.
• International air visitors: International arrivals jumped 26.6 percent to 214,850 and contributed to a 25.3 percent increase in international visitor days. The average length of stay was 7.75 days.
• Total repeat/first-time visitors: Repeat visitors comprised 64.9 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii versus 64.3 percent in January 2004.
• Arrivals by Island: Visitor arrivals increased on all islands compared to the previous year.
• Purpose of trip: A greater number of visitors came to vacation (+14.3%), honeymoon (+26.4%), visit friends or relatives (+21%) and for meetings, conventions and incentives (+20.9%) compared to January 2004.

• Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):

  U.S. West: U.S. West visitor days rose 16.5 percent, due to a 14.4 percent growth in arrivals to 195,172 visitors. The average length of stay was 11.17 days. More of these visitors came to vacation, honeymoon, get married, visit friends or relatives, attend corporate meetings and for incentives compared to the same period last year.

U.S. East: Arrivals from the U.S. East rose 6.4 percent to 161,777 visitors and contributed to an 4.2 percent increase in visitor days compared to January 2004. The average length of stay was 12.07 days. Similar to their U.S. West counterpart, more U.S. East visitors came to honeymoon, vacation, visit friends or relatives, attend corporate meetings and for incentive travels.

Japan: Japanese visitor days increased 18.3 percent as total arrivals climb 19.1 percent to 131,793 visitors in January 2005. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.67 days. More Japanese visitors came to vacation, honeymoon, for meetings, conventions and incentives, and to visit friends and relatives compared to January 2004.

Canada: Canadian visitor days were 13.7 percent lower compared to the previous year. A total of 28,259 Canadian visitors came to the islands. The average length of stay was 14.17 days.

A total of 22,555 out-of-state visitors, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came with the ships, toured the islands in January 2005. These visitors were passengers of two Hawaii-home ported ships, the Norwegian Wind and the Pride of Aloha, and six out-of-state cruise ships. The number of visitors this January jumped 46.6 percent compared to the same month last year when seven out-of-state cruise ships and one

Hawaii home-ported ship, the Norwegian Star, carried 15,383 out-of-state visitors around the islands.

Repeat visitors to Hawaii comprised 63.7 percent of the out-of-state cruise visitors in January 2005, compared to 59.1 percent in the prior year. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 8.66 days in Hawaii, of which 5.64 days were spent on their cruise and another 3.02 days were spent before and after their cruise.

• Total visitor expenditures: Total expenditures by visitors who came by air in January 2005 rose 11.6 percent to $960.8 million with increases from Hawaii's top three visitor markets. Total spending by U.S. East was the highest at $315.4 million (+5.4%), followed by visitors from the U.S. West at $293.6 million (+15.3%), Japan at $181.7 million (+13.2%) and Canada at $47.5 million (-22.4%).

  By island, visitor spending on Oahu rose 17.3 percent to $478.3 million. Spending by visitors on Maui was second at $240.7 million (-2.6%) ranked third was the Big Island at $143.3 million (+32.6%).

• Per person per day expenditures: Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $243 per person in January 2005, followed by those from the U.S. East ($161 per person).
• Per person per trip expenditures: Visitors from the U.S. East spent the most per trip at $1,950 per person in January 2005, followed by those from Canada at $1,681 per person, the U.S. West at $1,504 per person, All Other markets at $1,476 per person and Japan at $1,379 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