Maui Visitor Arrivals at 1.3 Million; Expenditures at $2.3 Billion

Grand Wailea fountain. File photo by Wendy Osher.

Visitor arrivals and expenditures on Maui are up for the first six months of the year, with arrivals topping 1.3 million (up 3% from year before levels); and spending at $2.3 billion (up 4% from last year), according to new data released by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

The HTA reports that the average visitor stayed on Maui 8 days, and spent $212 per person per day.

On the neighbor island of Molokaʻi, there was a double digit drop in visitor arrivals, down 14% to 30,938 individuals.  Spending was down 15% to $15.9 million.  On Molokaʻi, visitors also spent the least amount per person per day at $106, down 12.5% from the same period last year.

On Lānaʻi, visitor arrivals were down 10% to 31,118 individuals.  Spending was down 4.6% to to $34.3 million.  Visitors to Lanai, meantime, spent the most per person per day, at $324, but that was down as well by nearly 16%.

George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, issued a statement saying, “Hawaiʻi’s tourism industry achieved record totals for the first two quarters, attracting more visitors at 4.4 million, and generating more spending at $7.7 billion, than any previous year. Importantly, these results also produced a record $820.7 million in state tax revenue for the first two quarters, revenue that strengthens our State’s ability to provide programs and services benefiting residents statewide.

Statewide, growth through the first six months of 2016 included: US West (+4.3%), US East (+4.1%), Japan (+1.6%) and all other International markets (+9.7%).  This helped to offset fewer visitors from Canada (-11.6%) compared to 2015.

Visitor expenditures increased from US West (+5% to $2.7 billion), US East (+3.3% to $2 billion) and all other international markets (+6% to $1.5 billion), but declined from Canada (-17.7% to $551.5 million) and Japan (-4.3% to $936.5 million).

For the four larger Hawaiian Islands in the first half of 2016, Maui (+3%), Oʻahu (+2.9%) and Hawaiʻi Island (+0.9%) saw growth in visitor arrivals, while Kauaʻi (-0.1%) was similar to last year. Visitor expenditures increased on Maui (+4% to $2.3 billion) and Hawaiʻi Island (+9.1% to $1 billion), showed no growth on Kauaʻi (-0.2% to $820.8 million), and declined on Oʻahu (-1.5% to $3.5 billion), according to the HTA.

Szigeti said noted that the US West and US East, carried the bulk of Hawaiʻi’s success in the first half of the year, “bolstered by the new international markets that HTA has been working hard to develop.”

He thanked industry stakeholders for “doing their part every day to make the Hawaiian Islands such a sensational travel experience.”