Maui Visitor Expenditures, Arrivals Up in February

Courtesy of HVCB.

By Sonia Isotov

Total expenditures by visitors who came to Maui in February 2013 rose 9.4%, or $29.2 million, from February 2012. Expenditures that month reached $339.6 million, according to preliminary statistics released last week by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Contributing to the increase was higher daily spending (up 7.1% to $205.5 per person) and a 5.8% growth in total arrivals to 194,522 visitors.

There was growth in Maui arrivals from the US West (up 7.4% to 78,857), Canada (up 7.3% to 33,602) and Japan (up 21.3% to 7,197), which offset a 5% decline from US East (to 53,361).

Arrivals by cruise ships on Maui increased 31.6% from February 2012, to 30,404 in February 2013.

For the first two months of 2013, arrivals to Maui rose 6.2% to 395,484 visitors while total expenditures rose 7.5% to $731 million.

Statewide, Hawaii’s tourism industry continues to maintain positive momentum, generating $2.66 billion in visitor expenditures through February 2013, an additional $188 million in comparison to the same period last year.

“This growth helped to generate $280 million in state tax revenue, a $20 million increase from February 2012,” Mike McCartney, the president and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said in a media release.