For Immediate Release: September 27, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-24

$8.2 Billion in Visitor Expenditures Realized Through August

Note: August 2007 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU--Boosted by increased visitor days, visitor arrivals and higher daily visitor spending, total visitor expenditures for August 2007 rose 4.2 percent to $1.2 billion, an increase of $46.3 million compared to the same month last year, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT). Total visitor expenditures in the first eight months of 2007 reached $8.2 billion, a .7 percent increase over the same period last year.

The average daily visitor spending grew to $182 per person from $180 per person in August 2006. In the top four visitor markets, U.S. West (up to $168 per person from $160 per person), Japanese (up to $228 per person from $221 per person) and Canadian (up to $151 per person from $148 per person) visitors spent more on a daily basis compared to August 2006. However, U.S. East visitors spent less (down to $179 per person from $185 per person).

Total visitor expenditures increased for the U.S. West (+4.1% to $504.9 million), Japan (+10.4% to $205.7 million) and Canada (+7.1% to $25.7 million) markets. Visitor expenditures declined slightly for the U.S. East market (-.8% to $277.5 million due to lower daily spending.

Total visitor days were 2.9 percent higher compared to last August thanks to a 3.5 percent increase in total visitor arrivals. All of the top four visitor markets showed growth in visitor arrivals, led by Japan with a 6.3 percent increase over August 2006. Arrivals from Canada rose 5.6 percent, while U.S. East and U.S. West arrivals grew by 2.7 percent and .8 percent, respectively.

"We are pleased by the overall results posted for this August, especially from the Japanese visitor market," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "This is the first successive month of growth in the Japanese market since 2005. Visitors choosing to stay in hotel accommodations increased in August largely due to the increase in Japanese visitors. This is the first month we have seen an increase in visitors choosing hotel accommodations in sixteen months."

Visitor expenditures in the first eight months of 2007 totaled $8.2 billion, an increase of $53.2 million or .7 percent over the same period last year. The average daily visitor spending for the first eight months of 2007 was up 2.6 percent to $178 per person.

Year-to-date expenditures by U.S West (+2.9% to $3.2 billion) and Canadian visitors (+5% to $345 million) increased, U.S. East visitor spending remained as before ($2.5 billion), while spending by Japanese visitors declined (-2.7% to $1.3 billion).

Year-to-date total visitor days decreased 1.9 percent compared to the same period last year, while total arrivals were off by 1 percent. Among the top four visitor markets, visitors from the U.S. West (+1.4%) and Canada (+1.4%) increased but arrivals from Japan (-2.6%) and the U.S. East (-3.2%) were lower compared to the first eight months of 2006.

Other Highlights:

• More Japanese visitors came during the month for incentives (+7.7%) and sporting events (+18%) compared to August 2006.
• All islands reported increased total visitors arrivals in August 2007 over August 2006. O'ahu and Moloka'i saw increases from all four top visitor markets. Kaua'i saw a jump in Japanese visitors (+47.1%) as well as increases in U.S. East (+10%) and U.S. West (+3.3%) visitors. Maui and Hawai'i Island reported more visitor traffic from the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada but fewer from Japan. Lana'i saw more arrivals from the U.S. West and U.S. East but fewer from Japan and Canada.

• Compared to August 2006, the number of visitors who stayed in timeshare properties for August 2007 grew by double digits in the Japanese (+70.2%), Canadian (+24.1%) and U.S. East (+10.7%) markets. U.S. West timeshare visitors increased an additional 8.8 percent. On the whole, total visitors who stayed in timeshare accommodations increased 5.1 percent in the first eight months of 2007.
• For the first eight months of 2007, visitor spending on O'ahu was virtually unchanged from the same period last year at $3.8 billion. Maui had the second highest spending at $2.3 billion, but declined 3.8 percent from last year. Hawai'i Island at $1.1 billion (+6.5%) and Kaua'i at $894.6 million (+6.3%) both showed growth over the same period in 2006.

• Total cruise visitor days for August 2007 increased 12.2 percent and the number of visitors who boarded a Hawai'i home ported or foreign flagged cruise ship grew 17.2 percent to 32,617 visitors.
• June through August is typically a period of little or no activity from foreign flagged ships. However, in August 2007, a large foreign-flagged ship came twice to the islands and brought in 3,311 visitors in contrast to the one ship carrying 397 passengers in August 2006. Consequently, visitors who entered the state by cruise ship jumped 734 percent in August 2007.
• Year-to-date cruise visitors on both Hawai'i home ported and foreign flagged ships increased 30.6 percent to 326,450 visitors.

Technical Notes: 2006 air visitor data presented in this news release are the final numbers and differ from the preliminary figures published in the monthly reports for January through June 2007. Detailed final statistics have been published in the 2006 Annual Visitor Research Report, available at the Visitor Statistics website: http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats

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