For Immediate Release: February 28, 2008
DBEDT Release News 08-06

Spending by Air Visitors Rose $84.1 Million to $1.1 Billion

Note: January 2008 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU--Total visitor days for air and cruise visitors in January 2008 rose 7.5 percent compared to January 2007, boosted by a 4.1 percent growth in arrivals to 597,126 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Of the total number of visitors to the state, 584,394 arrived by air, up 4 percent from January 2007. This increase, combined with higher average daily spending ($178 per person from $177 per person in January 2007), elevated total air visitor expenditures by $84.1 million or 8.3 percent to $1.1 billion. See Technical Notes.

Among the top four visitor markets, arrivals from Canada jumped 27.7 percent, U.S. West (+3.9%) and U.S. East (+2.2%) air visitors also increased but Japanese air arrivals (-5.2%) were lower compared to January 2007. Total air visitor arrivals from all other geographic areas grew 13.3 percent.

"We are pleased by the growth in total cruise and air visitor arrivals and the continued increase in air visitor spending in January 2008," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We are especially excited with the surge of visitors from Canada, Hawai‘i's fourth largest visitor market."

• The 27.7 percent growth in arrivals by air from Canada was the sixth consecutive month of increases since August 2007. Canadian visitor arrivals have risen on an annual basis every year since 2002.
• Visitor arrivals were higher for the Pacific (+3.7%), Mountain (+5.2%), West North Central (+7.9%), West South Central (+1.1%), East North Central (+4.8%), East South Central (+4.3%) and South Atlantic (+1.1%) regions compared to January 2007.
• Despite a 4.4 percent drop in arrivals from California, arrivals from Washington (+21.6%) and Oregon (+14.3%) rose by double digits, boosting the growth in the Pacific Region. Arrivals from Washington have risen every month since May 2006. Except for April 2006 and May 2007, Oregon visitors have shown year-over-year increases every month for the last two years.
• Japanese visitors stayed 3.6 percent longer in January 2008 (5.77 days compared to 5.57 days in January 2007) resulting in only a modest 1.8 percent decline in visitor days despite a 5.2 percent decrease in arrivals by air. The number of Japanese visitors who came to honeymoon (+2%) or get married in Hawai‘i (+.7%) increased from the same month last year.

• Spending by visitors on O‘ahu for the month rose 11.3 percent to $490.7 million, when compared to January 2007. Visitor spending on Maui was the second highest at $302.1 million, up .7 percent from a year ago. Spending on Hawai‘i Island rose 22.8 percent to $185.2 million and air visitor expenditures on Kaua‘i declined 3.2 percent to $106.3 million.
• Except for a 3.2 percent decrease on Kaua‘i, total visitor arrivals rose for O‘ahu (+3.5%), Maui (+1.9%), Hawai‘i Island (+5%), Lana‘i (+6.5%) and Moloka‘i (+19.3%) compared to January 2007.

• Hawai‘i Island and O‘ahu saw growth in arrivals from the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada but fewer from Japan. Maui reported increased arrivals from U.S. East and Canada while Kaua‘i experienced growth in U.S. West and Canadian air visitors.
• Visitor arrivals to Kaua‘i were down 3.2 percent compared to January 2007, largely due to a drop in cruise visitors to this island. Actually, visitor days for Kaua‘i were up .9 percent from last January, boosted by visitors on Alaska Airlines' direct flight to Kaua‘i.

January 2008 Cruise Ship Visitors

• Visitors who came by cruise ship also rose 8.3 percent to 12,732 visitors, resulting in a 16.7 percent growth in total visitor days by ship compared to the same month last year. See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2.
• Visitor days for total cruise visitors for January 2008 declined 9.6 percent. The number of cruise visitors who arrived by ship or arrived by air and boarded a cruise ship decreased 16.3 percent to 37,699 visitors. The average length of stay by all cruise visitors during the month was 10.90 days, up from 10.10 days in January 2007.
• Contributing to the decrease in total cruise visitors for the month were two less ship tours in January 2008 compared to 2007. One ship tour began at the end of December 2007 and was counted in that month, while the other was due to a change in itinerary from a seven-day cruise to a ten-day cruise. In addition, the Norwegian Wind which was home-ported in the islands last January has not been in Hawai‘i since April 2007.
• In January 2008 there were 9 cruise ship arrivals, compared to 8 in the same month last year. Cruise ship arrival is the number of times cruise ships enter the State of Hawai‘i. A cruise ship may be counted multiple times if it leaves Hawai‘i then returns with new passengers within the same month.

Technical Notes: Beginning with this news release, total visitor days and total visitor arrivals will combine visitors who came by air and by cruise ships to more accurately reflect all visitors to Hawai‘i. See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2. In previous monthly news releases, these statistics were reported separately.

All other statistics including visitor expenditures will continue to reflect spending of visitors who arrived by air only. Spending by visitors who came by cruise ships is not available at the time of the release. Supplemental Business Expenditures are also not included. Both of these statistics will be reported in the Annual Visitor Research Report.

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