For Immediate Release: September 24, 2009

Visitor Arrivals Increased for the First Time Since February 2008 by 1.3 Percent

Note: August 2009 Visitor Research Data can be viewed here.

HONOLULU—Total visitor arrivals in August 2009 were virtually unchanged from last August at 608,420 visitors, with growth in visitors from U.S. West (+7%) offsetting decreased arrivals from U.S. East (-2.6%), Japan (-8.4%) and Canada (-4.7%), according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

However, total visitor expenditure for August 2009 declined due to lower average daily spending by these visitors ($153 per person, down from $176 per person in August 2008). Total expenditure by air visitors in the month of August 2009 was $836.1 million, a decrease of $134.8 million or 13.9 percent compared to last August.

Total spending by air visitors for the first eight months of 2009 declined $1.2 billion or 15.7 percent from year-to-date 2008, to $6.6 billion.

Total visitor days for air and cruise visitors also decreased 1.2 percent, due to a shorter average length of stay (9 days in August 2009 versus 9.11 days in August 2008).

"Growth in arrivals from the U.S. West helped offset decreased arrivals from all other geographic areas," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "When your base business, specifically conventions, meetings and incentives, declines 37.4 percent compared to the previous year it is very difficult to make up the loss with leisure travelers. Decreased visitor spending, a byproduct of aggressive pricing, is affecting all sectors of our industry and the overall economy."

"After 17 months of declining arrivals, we are pleased to see that visitor arrivals overall have held steady for the past two months and that arrivals from our main market, U.S. West, have shown an increase for four consecutive months," said Mike McCartney, president and CEO for Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. "We believe that this is partly attributed to efforts by our marketing partner, the Hawai‘i Visitors and Conventions Bureau, including the recent blitzes to San Francisco and Los Angeles."

"Because of the groundwork that we've been laying through our marketing programs during the past year, we are poised to take advantage of the economic recovery that some of our key international markets are experiencing, notably the Korea market where we've seen a 21 percent increase in arrivals over 2008," continued McCartney. "We are also encouraged by several major conventions arriving this fall including the American Dental Association (Sept. 30-Oct. 4) and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses 2009 International Convention (November) which are expected to generate $49.8 million in direct visitor spending and approximately 255,340 room nights."

For the first eight months of 2009, total visitor days for air and cruise visitors declined 6.2 percent. Total arrivals by air and cruise fell 7.1 percent from the same period last year to 4,446,160 visitors.

Average per person per day spending by air visitors declined to $159 per person from $177 in the first eight months of 2008.

Other Highlights:

• Daily spending for the month of August 2009 by U.S. East (-20.5%), Japanese (-8.9%), Canadian (-7.9%) and U.S. West visitors (-5.6%) were lower than last August. This combined with decreased arrivals resulted in double digit decreases in total expenditures from U.S. East, Japanese and Canadian visitors.
• More visitors stayed in timeshare properties (+5.1%) in August 2009 compared to the same month last year. The number of Japanese visitors who stayed in timeshare jumped 56.8 percent. U.S. West (+4.5%) and U.S. East (+1.2%) visitors who stayed in timeshare properties also increased compared to August 2008.
• Fewer visitors (-15.8%) purchased group tours compared to August 2008 due to double-digit decreases from U.S. West (-18.4%), U.S. East (-36.7%), Japanese (-10.2%) and Canadian (-65.2%) visitors.
• The total number of independent travelers grew 2.7 percent mainly due to growth from U.S. West (+5.5%) and Japan (+8%)
• Arrivals from the Pacific region, rose 6.9 percent from August 2008, boosted by growth in visitors from Alaska (+32.9%), Washington (+21.4%), Oregon (+15.1%) and California (+3.7%). Arrivals from the Mountain (+4.1%), East South Central (+3.2%), West South Central (+2.9%) and New England (+0.5%) regions also increased compared to August 2008.
• More U.S. West visitors came to honeymoon (+9.9%) and to visit friends or relatives (+3.7%) in August 2009. Significantly more U.S. West visitors purchased packaged trips (+12.5%) in August 2009 than in the same month last year. Hotels (+11.5%) experienced heavier visitor traffic from U.S. West in August 2009 compared to last August.
• More U.S. East visitors came to honeymoon (+5.7%) but significantly fewer came for meetings, conventions and incentives (-41.2%) compared to August 2008.
• More Japanese visitors came to visit friends and relatives (+38.5%) but considerably less were here for conventions (-85.8%), and incentives (-84.1%) than in August 2008. Fewer Japanese visitors in August 2009 stayed in hotels (-8%) and condominium properties (-12.4%).

• All islands reported lower visitor expenditures this month compared to August 2008. Total visitor expenditures on O‘ahu decreased 11.7 percent to $443.6 million. Total expenditures on Maui dropped 14.7 percent to $203.6 million; total visitor spending on Hawai‘i Island declined 19.5 percent to $97.6 million; and total visitor spending on Kaua‘i fell 12.2 percent to $85.7 million.

• In total, more visitors stayed exclusively on one island (+3.1%) resulting in a 10.1 percent decline in multiple island visitations compared to August 2008.
• O‘ahu saw a 1.6 percent growth in total visitors; but total visitations decreased for Hawai‘i island (-8%), Kaua‘i (-5.2%) and Maui (-2.4%) in August 2009.
• More U.S. West visitors went to O‘ahu (+14.2%) and Maui (+4%) as part of their trip to the islands compared to August 2008. Growth was even stronger in the number of U.S. West visitors who stayed exclusively on O‘ahu (+19.2%) or Maui (+7.4%) compared to the same time last year.
• U.S. East arrivals were lower on all islands compared to last August. However, U.S. East visitors who stayed exclusively on O‘ahu increased 4.1 percent from August 2008.
• Japanese arrivals to Kaua‘i (-29.3%), Maui (-28.8%) and Hawai‘i Island (-24%) fell by double-digits in August 2009 while O‘ahu was down 7.7 percent. Considerably fewer Japanese visitors went to multiple islands (-22.6%) compared to last August.
• Canadian arrivals decreased on all islands compared to August 2008. However, Canadian visitors who stayed exclusively on Hawai‘i Island (+5.3%), Kaua‘i (+4.3%) or O‘ahu (+4.1%) were up.

• Year-to-date, among the top four visitor markets, Japan had the largest declines in visitor arrivals on Kaua‘i and on Maui; U.S. East had the largest drop in arrivals on Hawai‘i Island while Canada had the largest decrease in arrivals on O‘ahu.

Total Air Seats to Hawai‘i

• Total air seats to Hawai‘i for August 2009 declined 1.6 compared to last August. Increases in scheduled seats from Other Asia (+24.6%) and U.S. West (+3.4%) were offset by fewer scheduled seats from Canada (-33.5%), Australia/New Zealand (-17.4%), U.S. East (-14.1%), Japan (-1.7%) and fewer international (-61.8%) and domestic (-15.4%) charters seats.
• For the first eight months of 2009, total air seats to Hawai‘i dropped 7.4 percent as a result of fewer seats from Canada (-25.5%), U.S. East (-18.5%), Australia/New Zealand (-12.6%), U.S. West (-5.9%) and Japan (-2.4%) which were partially offset by more seats from Other Asia (+16.3%)

Cruise Ship Visitors

• There were a total of 12,315 cruise visitors in August 2009 compared to 13,753 cruise visitors in 2008. This difference was mainly due to a cruise ship that came in August 2008 but is scheduled to come in September 2009.
• Year-to-date 2009, a total of 135,982 visitors came by cruise ship or by air to board cruise ships, 21.9 percent lower compared to the same period last year. Visitor days for all cruise visitors fell 24.3 percent.

AUGUST 2009 Cruise Visitor Highlights

• In the first eight months of 2009, 54,277 visitors came aboard 32 out-of-state cruise ships. This was down 3 percent compared 55,949 visitors aboard 38 cruise ships that came to the state in the first eight months of 2008. Total visitor days for those who came by cruise ships decreased 6.6 percent (See "Arrivals at a Glance" Table on page 2) compared to year-to-date 2008.

For more information, contact:
Sharon Freitas, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority
Phone: (808) 973-2272
Email: sfreitas@hawaiitourismauthority.org

Marsha Wienert, Tourism Liaison
Phone: (808) 586-2362
Email: marsha.wienert@hawaii.gov