For Immediate Release: June 26, 2008
DBEDT Release News 08-15

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

HONOLULU--Total expenditures by visitors who arrived by air increased 3.2 percent to $4.94 billion for the first five months of the year, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

For the month of May 2008, total air visitor expenditures decreased 2.9 percent or $26.7 million, from the same month last year to $887.8 million, due to a 6.4 percent drop in arrivals by air to 549,017 visitors. Daily spending by these visitors was $185 per person, compared to $179 per person in May 2007.

Total visitor days for air and cruise visitors in May 2008 decreased 6.9 percent compared to May 2007. Total arrivals by air and cruise visitors declined 7.4 percent to 554,399 visitors. The average length of stay by these visitors was virtually unchanged from last May at 8.76 days.

Among the top four visitor markets, air arrivals from Canada increased 13.7 percent compared to May 2007. Visitations from the U.S. West (-12.7%), U.S. East (-7.7%) and Japan (-6.2%) were down from the same month last year.

"May statistics are better than anticipated especially since it is the first month to report the effects of the loss of two home ported cruise ships and increased airfares," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "Increased marketing efforts in our base market, U.S. West, will help stimulate demand for summer travel."

"We continue to be pleased with the performance of the Canada and other Asia markets and anticipate further growth especially in the China market because Chinese are now able to visit the U.S. as leisure group travelers," added Wienert who noted that the first group of Chinese leisure travelers under a new agreement between the U.S. and China are visiting Hawai'i this week.

For the first five months of 2008, total visitor days for air and cruise visitors increased slightly by .9 percent, due to a longer length of stay (9.34 days compared to 9.14 days in year-to-date 2007). Total arrivals by air and cruise decreased 1.3 percent from the same period last year to 2,970,173 visitors.

Year-to-date, arrivals by air totaled 2,918,580 visitors (-1.1%). The average daily spending was also higher at $181 per person compared to $177 per person in the first five months of 2007.

Other Highlights:

• The 13.7 percent growth in arrivals from Canada was the tenth consecutive month of increases since August 2007. Year-to-date, Canadian arrivals rose 26.8 percent to 184,320 visitors.
• Daily spending by Japanese visitors was up 6.6 percent to $285 per person in May 2008, resulting in total expenditures (+.2% to $145.5 million) for the month remaining equivalent to May 2007.
• In May 2008, arrivals from the East South Central region rose 9 percent but arrivals from the Pacific (-13.6%), Mountain (-10.1%), West North Central (-1.3%), West South Central (-12.9%), East North Central (-3.6%), New England (-7%), Middle Atlantic (-6.4%) and South Atlantic (-14.8%) regions were lower compared to the same month last year.
• Arrival figures from the Pacific region were down, mainly due to a 19.3 percent decrease in visitors from California. Arrivals from Oregon (+10.5%) and Washington (+4.4%) continued to increase.

• Among the four larger islands, visitor spending in May 2008 was strongest on O'ahu with an 18.9 percent growth in daily spending per person ($209 per person compared to $176 per person in May 2007) and a 14.4 percent increase in total expenditures.

• Oahu saw a 16.6 percent increase in Canadian visitors in May 2008. More Canadians stayed exclusively on one island compared to the same month last year. Even though fewer Canadians visited multiple islands this May their average length of stay remained stable at 11.09 days.
• Japanese arrivals decreased 6.2 percent in May 2008 affecting O'ahu (-6.6%), Kaua'i (-26.8%) and Hawai'i Island (-13.9%). Japanese arrivals to Maui rose slightly by .6 percent compared to May 2007. The average length of stay of those who came during the month was 5.53 days, unchanged from last May.

• Year-to-date, arrivals from Canada declined on Kaua'i (-2%), but increased on Maui (+25.2%), O'ahu (+21.9%), Molokai (+24.9%), Hawai'i Island (+11.3%) and Lana'i (+2%).
• Year-to-date, Japanese arrivals were lower on Kaua'i (-30.1%), Maui (-16.7%), Hawai'i Island (-13.1%) and O'ahu (-7.7%) compared to the same period last year.
• For the first five months of 2008, visitor arrivals were higher for the West North Central (+.4%), region, but declined in the Pacific (-4.6%), Mountain (-4.8%), West South Central (-1.3%), East North Central (-1.7%), East South Central (-3.3%), New England (-7%), Middle Atlantic (-3.9%) and South Atlantic (-6.2%) regions compared to year-to-date 2007.

May 2008 Cruise Ship Visitors

• Visitors who came by cruise ship decreased 56.9 percent to 5,382 visitors, resulting in a 59.2 percent drop in total visitor days compared to the same month last year. Year-to-date, 51,593 visitors came by cruise ships, down 11.7 percent, while total visitor days declined 7.7 percent (See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2).
• For May 2008 a total of 21,146 visitors came by ship or arrived by air and boarded a cruise ship, 47.2 percent lower compared to last May. The average length of stay by all cruise visitors during the month was 9.44 days compared to 9.67 days in May 2007.
• The decline in total cruise visitors for May 2008 was due to the departure of the Pride of Hawai'i which discontinued its inter-island cruises in January 2008. The Pride of Aloha also had only one tour this May, her last tour in the islands, compared to a full schedule in the same month last year. In addition, only three out-of-state cruise ships visited the islands during month compared to seven in May 2007.
• For the first five months of 2008, a total of 138,782 visitors came by ship or by air to board cruise ships, 36.8 percent lower compared to the same period last year. Visitor days for all cruise visitors decreased 32.6 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, DBEDT
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov