Available data in the most recent state Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) report indicated that visitor arrivals by air from the domestic market continued to increase in January 2004 compared to the same month last year. “We are
Available data in the most recent state Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) report indicated that visitor arrivals by air from the domestic market continued to increase in January 2004 compared to the same month last year.
“We are pleased to see steady growth in visitor arrivals from our primary U.S. market,” Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison, said. “Arrivals increased across all U.S. regions. It is also encouraging to see the improvement from our MCI visitor segment, which has continued to grow since July 2003.”
Additional preliminary January 2004 visitor statistics:
Total air visitors: A total of 512,186 visitors came to the islands during the month, slightly down by 1 percent from January 2003.
On Kaua‘i, the number of total arrivals was 74,292, 11,100 of which were international visitors.
“I think that when comparing Kaua‘i’s numbers to the other Counties, we’re holding up pretty well when looking at statewide trends,” said Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association.
Total visitor days numbered 5.3 million, with an average length of stay of 10.39 days.
Domestic air visitors: Domestic arrivals rose 2.8 percent to 342,415 visitors throughout the state.
The average length of stay was 11.66 days. Arrivals from the U.S. market, which accounted for 90.1 percent of all domestic visitors, rose 3.4 percent with growth from all U.S. regions.
Domestic arrivals on Kaua‘i totaled 63,192 visitors.
International air visitors: Arrivals from the international market totaled 169,771 visitors for the month, which was 7.8 percent lower than in January 2003.
“The international numbers have been a problem for some time now,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director for the Kauai Visitors Bureau (KVB).
“We truly lost momentum when Sept. 11th happened both in the Japanese market, as well as the European and Asian markets.”
Those visitors who came this January stayed an average of 7.83 days.
“I think that the Kauai Visitors Bureau is doing whatever they can within their budget to entice a longer length of stay from those markets,” said Parker.
Arrivals by Island: Fewer visitors went to multiple islands during January. Single-island visitation increased on O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i and the Big Island compared to January 2003.
Purpose of trip: More visitors came for meetings, conventions and incentives (+11.6 percent) and to visit friends or relatives (+3.1 percent) than in January of last year.
Air visitors from the top four major market areas (MMAs):
U.S. West: Arrivals from the U.S. West to Kaua‘i declined by 0.6 percent in January of 2004 compared to the same time last year.
More of these visitors came to honeymoon, for vacation and for meetings, conventions and incentives compared to January 2003.
U.S. East: A total of 30,772 U.S. East visitors came to Kaua‘i in January 2004, up 2.9 percent from the same month last year.
A greater number of these visitors came to honeymoon, to attend conventions or to visit friends and relatives compared to January a year ago.
Japan: Arrivals from Japan totaled 3,510 visitors during the month, a 32.8 percent decline compared to January 2003.
Japanese visitors accounted for 65.2 percent of all international visitors and 21.6 percent of total visitors to the state.
“Decline for Kaua‘i was significantly less that Maui (-55 percent),” said Parker.
“In fact all counties had declines in the Japanese market.
“Increase in Japanese Kauai-only visitors was larger than any other county (+162 percent). While the total number is small, this indicates a growing interest on the part of the Japanese F.I.T (free and independent traveler) to spend their entire vacation on Kaua‘i.”
The average length of stay among Japanese visitors was 1.97 days.
“One of the largest challenges for the Japanese market is the change in inter-island air service,” said Kanoho.
“The reduction in flights, increase in costs, and the inability to block large amounts of seats has dramatically affected inter-island travel/arrivals.
“Unfortunately, we don’t see this challenge being resolved any time soon, therefore, we are doing our best to reach the consumer to drive their desire to travel.”
Kanoho mentioned that the KVB is making significant progress attempting to regain lost visitors from Japan.
“We are working closely with the new contractor Dentsu/Hawaii Tourism Japan on their new message with new images called ‘6 Islands / 6 Surprises’,” said Kanoho.
“They (Dentsu/Hawaii) just launched a new web site, as did KVB. We imagine that the new web sites will help drive awareness to the consumer, who in turn will hopefully book a trip to Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i specifically through their travel partner.”
For all visitors to Kaua‘i, the average length of stay for the month was 7.66 days.
First-time visitors comprised 43.2 percent of this January’s total, up from 38.2 percent for the same month last year.
Canada: A total of 5,992 Canadians visited the island during the month, up 19.4 percent compared to January last year.
Cruise visitors: There were a total of eight cruise ship arrivals in January 2004 carrying 15,383 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 18.8 percent lower compared to last January with 7 cruise ship arrivals.
On Kaua‘i, 13,361 cruise-ship visitors came to the island in January 2004, an 18.8 percent decrease from the same time last year.
“This decrease in cruise visitors was mainly due to more smaller ships with less passenger capacity that toured Hawai‘i in January 2004,” Wienert said.
These cruise visitors stayed an average of 7.39 days in Hawai‘i, of which 4.20 days were spent on their cruise and another 3.19 days were spent before and after their cruise.
Preliminary January 2004 visitor expenditures data:
Total visitor expenditures: Total expenditures by visitors who came by air in January 2004 was $851.0 million, $97.1 million in Kaua‘i.
Per person per day expenditures: On Kaua‘i, the average visitor spent $164.70 per day on the island, $1,261 per trip.
