Visitor Arrivals Up 3.5%, Spending Up 1.4% in May

Image: Aaron Lynton

Visitor arrivals to Maui in May increased by 3.5% to 212,935 and visitor days increased 2.9% to 1,583,603 this year compared to last May, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

Higher daily spending, up 1.4% to $203 per person, contributed to a gain in visitor expenditures by 4.3% to $321.6 million.

Increases in arrivals from US West (+5.3%), US East (+4.5%) and Japan (+20.7%) offset fewer visitors from Canada (-14.9%).

In the first five months of 2016, visitor arrivals increased on Maui (+2.8%) compared to year-to-date 2015.

Through May 2016, there were gains in visitor expenditures on Maui (+3.6% to $1.9 billion).

OTHER ISLANDS

Hawai‘i Island Visitor arrivals declined compared to May 2015 (-1.8%). However, a longer length of stay resulted in visitor days that were similar to a year ago (-.2%). The average daily spending by these visitors was higher than last year (+9.5% to $187 per person) and contributed to a growth in visitor expenditures (+9.3% to $145.3 million).

There were more visitors from U. East (+1.8%) and Japan (+7.1%), but fewer visitors from US West (-2.4%) and Canada (-29.4%). A larger number of Japanese visitors stayed exclusively on Hawai‘i Island (+61.3% to 2,331) compared to last May.

O‘ahu Visitor arrivals (+1.5%) and visitor days (+1.7%) increased compared to May 2015. However, lower daily visitor spending (-9.2% to $190 per person) resulted in a loss in visitor expenditures (-7.7% to $570.8 million).

There were more visitors from US West (+3.7%) and US East (+1%), but fewer visitors from Japan (-2.5%) and Canada (-7.7%) than a year ago.

Kaua‘i Decreases in visitor arrivals (-2.5%), visitor days (-2.3%) and daily spending (-5.6% to $183 per person) caused a decline in visitor expenditures (-7.8% to $125.5 million) in May 2016.

There were more US East visitors (+1.1%) but fewer US West (-0.6%), Japanese (-11.8%) and Canadian (-29.6%) visitors compared to May 2015.

STATE STATS

Total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands in May 2016 rose 1.3% from a year
ago to 718,913 visitors. Total visitor days increased 1.1% compared to May 2015.

Despite increased visitor volumes, lower daily spending across most visitor markets resulted in
decreased total visitor expenditures (-2.4% to $1.2 billion) for May 2016 compared to last year.

“Visitor arrivals and expenditures year-to-date show that Hawai‘i is still ahead of last year’s record-setting pace with total arrivals up 3.1% and spending up 1%,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of HTA.

“Visitors from our two largest markets, the US West and East, led arrivals in May and continues its positive course of year-over-year growth, despite a slight drop in arrivals last month due to travel around Easter holiday falling in March instead of April this year,” said Szigeti.

“On the international side, arrivals from Korea were strong in May seeing a double digit increase year-over-year,” said Szigeti. “However, declines in arrivals and expenditures from the Japan and Canada markets can be attributed to a weaker exchange rate and the fact that Golden Week in Japan [a cluster of national holidays] shifted travel to late April this year versus the first week of May in 2015.

“We are also closely monitoring the situation in Europe and how that may affect travel,” said Szigeti. “It’s too early to know precisely how the situation there will affect the global economy, including tourism related impacts. In 2015, 143,434 visitors from Europe came to Hawai‘i, with 50,469 of that total coming from the United Kingdom. This represents less than 2% of the 8.6 million visitors who came to Hawai‘i last year.”

Download the full HTA report.