Hawai‘i’s domestic visitor market realized another month of growth in the number of air visitors to the islands, according to data released by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism last week.
Arrivals from the international sector have also continued to improve from double-digit decreases to a drop of 2.6 percent, the smallest deficit since March 2003.
In addition, the total number of meetings, conventions and incentive (MCI) visitors who traveled to Hawai‘i for conventions and corporate meetings rose 23.4 percent, due to growth in attendees from the U.S. west and U.S. east.
“There are improvements in many of our major-market segments,” said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. “Japanese visitors are at about 99 percent of last September’s number, domestic arrivals are up, and domestic first-time visitors rose slightly, by 0.7 percent.
“We are also very pleased to see the strong performance of the domestic MCI market. Contributing to this month’s growth were several events held at the Hawaii Convention Center and increased bookings at the individual properties,” continued Wienert.
Total visitor days in September 2003 fell 4.5 percent compared to last September, primarily due to a shorter length of stay by both domestic and international visitors who came by air during the month. The average length of stay by these visitors was 9.14 days, down from 9.69 days in September 2002.
Year-to-date highlights Visitor Days
Despite the drop in September, total visitor days for the first nine months of 2003 increased 3.8 percent from the same period last year. Total arrivals were off by 1 percent, but the average length of stay was 9.80 days, 4.9 percent higher compared to year-to-date 2002.
Total Repeat/First-Time Visitors: Repeat visitors comprised 62.4 percent of the total visitors to the state, while 37.6 percent were first-time visitors.
This was virtually unchanged from the same period last year, as increases in the number of repeat visitors from the U.S. west, Japan and Canada were offset by a growth in first-time visitors from the U.S. east.
The large number of returning visitors to the state contributed to an 8.7 percent growth in Neighbor Island only visitations year-to-date. Repeat visitors accounted for the majority of the visitors from the United States, Japan and Canada.
Arrivals by Island
Total arrivals by air to O‘ahu increased in September 2003, but declined 5.9 percent on a year-to-date basis. Arrivals to Kaua‘i (up 1.7 percent) and the Big Island (down 1.2 percent) were also lower, but visitations rose on Maui (up 4.8 percent), Moloka‘i (up 28.2 percent) and Lana‘i (up 16.6 percent) compared to the same period last year.
Purpose of trip: The number of visitors who vacationed in the islands was up 1.7 percent compared to year-to-date 2002, while those who came for meetings, conventions and incentives increased 7.6 percent.
Domestic air visitors: Domestic visitor days, compiled from visitors who came on flights originating in U.S. cities, continued to surpass the same period last year (up 7.1 percent). Domestic arrivals to O‘ahu continued to decline in a year-to-date basis despite strong growth during the month of September.
Domestic arrivals increased on the neighbor islands in the first nine months of 2003. Arrivals from the U.S. market, which accounted for 89.5 percent of all domestic visitors to date, rose 3.2 percent. Higher visitor arrivals were achieved from all U.S. regions. International Air Visitors., Lower visitor arrivals offset a longer average length of stay and resulted in a 7.2 percent decrease in International visitor days for the first nine months of 2003.
Cruise Visitors
A total of 50 cruise ships toured the islands in the first nine months of 2003 carrying 109,700 out-of-state visitors, including those who arrived by air to board these ships and those who came with the ships.
The number of visitors was 10.0 percent higher compared to the same period last year when 44 cruise ships toured Hawai‘i.
Close to 42 percent of the out-of-state cruise visitors were first time visitors to the islands, compared to 40.7 percent in the same period last year.
Year-to date, these cruise visitors stayed an average of 7.26 days in Hawai‘i, of which 4.45 days were spent on their cruise and another 2.76 days were spent before and after their cruise was over.
Highlights from Preliminary Year-to-date August 2003 Visitor Expenditures Total visitor expenditures: Total expenditures by visitors who arrived by air during the first eight months of 2003 rose 6.2 percent from the same period last year to $6.8 billion.
Total Expenditures by U.S. West visitors rose to $2.7 billion year-to-date. Total spending by U.S. East and Canadian visitors also increased to $2.1 billion and $235.1 million, respectively. Spending by Japanese visitors fell to $1.1 billion.
Per person per day expenditures: Japanese visitors continued to spend the most on a daily basis at $232 per person year-to-date, followed by those from the U.S. East ($163 per person), from All Other major market areas ($159 per person), from the U.S. West ($147 per person) and from Canada ($122 per person).
Per person per trip expenditures: U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip year-to-date at $1,838 per person, followed by those from Canada at $1,635 per person, from all other major market areas at $1,593 per person and from the U.S. West at $1,522 per person.
Although Japanese visitors spent the most on a daily basis, their average per trip spending of $1,391 was the lowest among all visitor groups due to their shorter average length of stay.
