For Immediate Release: June 28, 2006
DBEDT Release News 06-19

Note: May 2006 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

Total Visitor Days and Domestic Arrivals Set Another Record

HONOLULU--A 3.6 percent growth in total visitor days - to 4.97 million days - set a new record for the month of May according to preliminary data released by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) today.

Total visitor expenditures also increased (3.4 percent) to $886.6 million in May 2006, largely due to the increase in visitor days. During the first five months of this year, total visitor expenditures increased by 6.6 percent to $4.7 billion.

The strong increase in total visitor days is credited to a jump in record domestic visitor arrivals of 425,141 compared to May last year.

Year-to-date, domestic arrivals increased 3.9 percent, resulting in a 2 percent increase in total arrivals. International arrivals decreased 2.5 percent despite a 10.8 percent increase in arrivals from Canada. Japanese arrivals decreased 7.8 percent compared to the same period last year.

"May was another excellent month for Hawaii's visitor industry," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "The economic impact of the visitor industry continues to provide for a healthy economic outlook for the state."

Of the total number of visitors who came in the first five months of the year, 153,119 visitors either flew to the state to board Hawaii home-ported cruise ships or arrived on foreign cruise ships visiting the islands, up 34.3 percent from the same period last year. Cruise visitor days climbed 48.5 percent compared to the first five months of 2005.

Total Air Visitors: Air visitors spent a total of $4.7 billion in the first five months of 2006, up 6.6 percent compared to the same period last year with large increases from the U.S. West and Canadian visitor markets. Total visitor spending by Japanese visitors decreased .3 percent.

Year-to-date visitor spending on Oahu totaled $2.2 billion (-.3%) followed by Maui at $1.4 billion (+19.5%), the Big Island at $623.6 million (+3.4%) and Kauai at $481.8 million (+8.5%).

Contributing to the growth in total visitor expenditures was a 2.8 percent increase in total visitor days supported by higher arrivals from the domestic market. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.20 days.

Visitor arrivals rose on Kauai (+8.6%), Maui (+6.4%) and the Big Island (+6.5%) compared to the same period last year.

A greater number of visitors came for meetings (+14.3%) and incentives (+10.8%) and other business (+6.8%).

Repeat visitors accounted for 63.4 percent of the total visitors to Hawaii, versus 63.2 percent in year-to-date 2005.

• Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days rose 3.4 percent as arrivals rose by 3.9 percent to 2,138,086 visitors. The average length of stay was 9.9 days.

  The number of U.S. visitors, which accounted for 92 percent of total domestic arrivals to date, was 3.8 percent higher compared to the same period last year with increases from all regions except for New England and the Middle Atlantic. Total domestic arrivals include U.S. residents and international visitors who came to Hawaii on domestic flights.

• International air visitors: International visitor days increased .8 percent despite a 2.5 percent decrease in arrivals to 829,222 visitors. The average length of stay increased by 3.4 percent to 7.4 days.

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

  U.S. West: Total spending by U.S. West visitors reached $1.67 billion, 10.2 percent higher than year-to-date 2005. This group of visitors spent an average of $152 per person per day, a 5.7 percent increase from the same period last year.

  U.S. West visitor days increased by 4.2 percent. Arrivals rose 5.1 percent to 1,172,721 visitors for the first five months of 2006 which was somewhat offset by a lower average length of stay (9.4 days). More of these visitors came to honeymoon and for conventions.

  U.S. East: Total spending by U.S. East visitors increased 3.3 percent compared to the first five months of 2005, to $1.50 billion, the second highest among the four major visitor markets. The average daily spending was $176 per person, the second highest among the top four visitor markets.

  U.S. East visitor days increased 1.4 percent compared to first five months of 2005. The increase was due to a 2 percent growth in arrivals to 826,360 visitors. The average length of stay declined slightly to 10.3 days. A higher number of U.S. East visitors came for conventions and incentives.

Japan: Japanese visitors spent a total of $842.8 million in the first five months of 2006, .3 percent lower compared to the same period last year. While ranking third in total expenditures, Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $269 per person.

Japanese visitor days declined 9.1 percent, due to a 7.8 percent decrease in visitor arrivals to 559,923 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 5.6 days, a decrease of 1.4 percent.

Canada: Year-to-date, total expenditures and average daily spending by Canadian visitors ranked fourth among the top four major visitor markets at $265.5 million (+19%) and $133 per person, respectively. Canadian visitor days increased 12.7 percent, boosted by a 10.8 percent growth in arrivals to 143,097 visitors. The average length of stay was the longest at 13.9 days.

• Per person per trip expenditures by MMA:

  Canadian visitors spent the most per trip during the first five months of 2006, at $1,856 per person, followed by visitors from the U.S. East ($1,814 per person), All Other markets ($1,621 per person), Japan ($1,505 per person) and the U.S. West ($1,426 per person).

Total cruise visitor days climbed 48.5 percent in the first five months of 2006. Contributing to this increase was a 34.3 percent growth in cruise visitors to 153,119 visitors, including those who arrived by air to board cruise ships and those who came on the ships. These visitors were aboard 30 international cruise ships including the foreign-flagged cruise ship and three U.S. flagged ships home ported in Hawaii, the Pride of Aloha, the Pride of Hawaii and the Pride of America.

Repeat visitors to Hawaii comprised 57.8 percent of out-of-state cruise visitors, a slight increase as compared to the same period last year. These cruise visitors stayed an average of 9.7 days in Hawaii, of which 6 days were spent on their cruise.

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