For Immediate Release: May 27, 2008
DBEDT Release News 08-11

Year-to-date Visitor Spending Rose 4.7 Percent to $4.05 Billion

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

HONOLULU--Boosted by an increase in average daily spending ($186 per person this April compared to $175 per person in April last year) air visitor expenditures rose slightly (+.4%) to $881.5 million, even though visitors who arrived by air decreased 7.6 percent to 538,428 visitors compared to last April, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

Total visitor days for air and cruise visitors in April 2008 declined 5.3 percent compared to April 2007.

Total arrivals by air and cruise visitors were down 7.6 percent to 548,792 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was 8.85 days, compared to 8.63 days in April 2007.

Among the top four visitor markets, air arrivals from Canada rose 48.2 percent compared to April 2007. Visitations from the U.S. West decreased 15.2, partially due to the shut down of Aloha Airlines after March 31 and ATA after April 2. Air Arrivals from the U.S. East (-5.1%) and Japan (-15.3%) were also down from the same month last year.

"The April Visitor Statistics Report is the first monthly report that reflects the closure of ATA and Aloha Airlines on Hawai‘i's visitor industry," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We are very pleased that Hawaiian Airlines began service in May to Oakland and look forward to the new mainland flights from Alaska and Delta Airlines in the next few months. This increased seat capacity will help offset the loss of Aloha and ATA seats".

"Despite the decrease in visitors and air seats from the domestic market, visitor expenditures increased slightly in April," said Wienert. "We are especially pleased that Canadian visitors continue to increase and we are encouraged that visitors from 'down under' (Australia and New Zealand) are on the rise."

For the first four months of 2008, total visitor days for air and cruise visitors increased 2.7 percent. Total arrivals by air and cruise was slightly higher than the same period last year (+.2%) at 2,415,774 visitors. The average length of stay was 9.47 days compared to 9.24 days in year-to-date 2007.

Total expenditures by air visitors for year-to date 2008, rose 4.7 percent to $4.05 billion. Arrivals by air totaled 2,369,563 visitors (+.2%). The average daily spending was also higher at $181 per person compared to $177 per person in the first four months of 2007.

Other Highlights:

• The 48.2 percent growth in arrivals from Canada was the ninth consecutive month of increases since August 2007. Year-to-date, Canadian arrivals rose 28.6 percent to 164,577 visitors.

• Among the four larger islands, visitor spending in April 2008 was strongest on O‘ahu with a 9 percent increase in daily spending per person and a 6 percent increase in total expenditures.

• The month of April 2008 saw strong double digit increases from Canadian visitors on all islands except for Lana‘i (-1.1%).
• Japanese arrivals declined 15.3 percent in April 2008 affecting O‘ahu (-15.9%), Kaua‘i (-18.7%), Maui (-43.8%) and Hawai‘i Island (-24.7%). The average length of stay by those who came during the month was 5.59 days, unchanged from last April. Daily spending by Japanese visitors was $285 per person, up from $259 per person in April 2007.
• For April 2008, arrivals from the West South Central region increased 4.9 percent from but arrivals from the Pacific (-16.9%), Mountain (-9%), West North Central (-5.8%), East North Central (-12.1%), East South Central (-12.4%), New England (-3.3%), Middle Atlantic (-3.7%) and South Atlantic (-4.4%) regions were lower compared to the same month last year.
• Arrival figures from the Pacific region were down, mainly due to a 25 percent decrease in visitors from California. Arrivals from Oregon (+15.1%) and Washington (+6%) continued to show strong growth.

• Year-to-date, arrivals from Canada were down slightly on Kaua‘i (-.9%), but increased on Maui (+29.1%), O‘ahu (+22.6%), Molokai (+22.4%), Hawai‘i Island (+13%) and Lana‘i (+5%).
• Year-to-date, Japanese arrivals were lower on Kaua‘i (-30.6%), Maui (-19.8%), Hawai‘i Island (-12.9%) and O‘ahu (-8%) compared to the same period last year.
• For the first four months of 2008, visitor arrivals were higher for the West North Central (+.7%), West South Central (+3.3%) regions, but declined in the Pacific (-2.3%), Mountain (-3.3%), East North Central (-1.3%), East South Central (-7.5%), New England (-7%), Middle Atlantic (-3.3%) and South Atlantic (-3.5%) regions compared to year-to-date 2007.

April 2008 Cruise Ship Visitors

• Visitors who came by cruise ship decreased 11.2 percent to 10,364 visitors, resulting in an 8.2 percent drop in total visitor days compared to the same month last year. Year-to-date, 46,211 visitors came by cruise ships, up .6 percent, while total visitor days rose 5.5 percent (See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2).
• For April 2008 a total of 22,617 visitors came by ship or arrived by air and boarded a cruise ship, 52.7 lower compared to last April. The average length of stay by all cruise visitors during the month was 10.30 days, up from 9.52 days in April 2007.
• The decline in total cruise visitors for April 2008 was largely due to the departure of the Pride of Hawai‘i which discontinued its inter-island cruises in January 2008. Also there were two less ship tours from the Pride of Aloha which changed its itinerary from seven-day cruises to ten- and eleven-day cruises; and one less ship tour from the Pride of America which was dry docked during the last week of April. In addition, the Norwegian Wind which was in the islands last April has not been in Hawai‘i since April 2007.
• For the first four months of 2008, a total of 117,636 visitors came by ship or by air to board cruise ships, 34.5 percent lower compared to the same period last year. Visitor days for all cruise visitors decreased 29 percent.

Technical Notes: Beginning with the January 2008 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