Hawai‘i Visitor Spending Increased in April 2018

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Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands spent a total of $1.42 billion in April 2018.  That’s an increase of 13% compared to last year, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

Here on Maui, visitor spending also experienced a double digit increase, up 11% to $413 million.  That was supported by increases in visitor days, up 3.5%; and daily spending, up 7.6% on Maui to $226 per person per day.  Visitor arrivals to Maui also rose 4.5% to 236,680 individuals.

Year-to-date, visitor spending is up more than 12% on Maui and arrivals are up 6-and-a-half percent, exceeding results from a year ago.  HTA president George Szigeti said the numbers reflect the benefits of increased air seat capacity and strong travel demand.

“Hawai‘i’s key visitor markets in the mainland US, Japan and Canada all produced admirable results, but it was the combined performance of the other international markets, with a 34.7% increase in visitor spending, that helped solidify April’s success,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of HTA.

“Hawai‘i’s four island counties each generated excellent visitor spending totals in April, with O‘ahu leading the way with an increase of 15.9%. It was especially heartening to see Kaua‘i produce such strong results after enduring the record-setting rainfall and destructive flooding that shut down the north shore beyond Wainiha, including the popular Haena State Park and Kalalau Trail,” said Szigeti. “April’s visitor spending elevated the tax revenue that tourism has generated for the State of Hawai‘i so far in 2018 to $728.5 million, which is an increase of 10.8%, or $71.3 million more than last year.”

Hawai‘i’s four largest visitor markets, U.S. West (+11.7% to $547.8 million), U.S. East (+4% to $310.5 million), Japan (+7.1% to $155.9 million) and Canada (+10% to $99.4 million), all reported gains in visitor spending in April year-over-year. Combined visitor spending from all other international markets (+34.7% to $297.6 million) also increased in April versus last year.

Visitors also spent more on an average daily basis from U.S. West (+4.8% to $184 per person), U.S. East (+1.4% to $218 per person), Japan (+4.5% to $232 per person) and Canada (+7.6% to $160 per person) in April compared to a year ago.

Total visitor arrivals rose 6.6% to 803,005 visitors in April, supported by growth in arrivals from both air service (+6.5% to 786,053) and cruise ships (+11.7% to 16,951). Total visitor days increased 5.5% in April. The average daily census, or the number of visitors on any given day in April, was 227,729, up 5.5% compared to April of last year.

Visitor arrivals increased from U.S. West (+8% 347,729), U.S. East (+4.1% to 153,606), Japan (+2.9% to 112,734), Canada (+6.4% to 52,073) and all other international markets (+9.2% to 119,910) in April versus last year.

All four larger Hawaiian Islands realized growth in visitor spending and arrivals in April compared to last year.

A total of 1,084,745 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in April, up 10.9% from a year ago. Growth in air seat capacity from Oceania (+15.5%), U.S. West (+14.8%), U.S. East (+12%), Canada (+1.1%) and Japan (+0.7%) offset fewer seats from Other Asia (-0.8%).