TOTAL VISITOR SPENDING AND ARRIVALS DECLINED IN MARCH 2014 AND IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2014

News Release from HTA April 28, 2014

Total expenditures by visitors who came to Hawaii in March 2014 fell 3.5 percent compared to last March to $1.2 billion, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Total arrivals declined 5.2 percent to 728,814 visitors, offsetting increased average daily visitor spending (+1.8% to $189 per person).

Arrivals by air from U.S. West visitors dropped 9.2 percent to 268,236 visitors. A change in the Easter/spring break holiday to April in 2014 from March in 2013 caused some shift in arrivals and contributed to this decline.

Combined with lower daily visitor spending (-6.6% to $156 per person), U.S. West visitor expenditures decreased 14 percent to $378.9 million in March 2014. U.S. West visitor expenditures and arrivals have shown year-over-year losses since August 2013.

While U.S. East arrivals of 165,745 visitors (+0.2%) were comparable to March 2013, higher daily spending (+6.2% to $199 per person) led to a 7.5 percent growth in U.S. East visitor expenditures to $317.4 million.

Total expenditures by Japanese visitors of $204.4 million (-0.6%) was about the same as March 2013. Growth in arrivals (+2% to 130,565 visitors) was offset by small decreases in daily spending (-1.6% to $262 per person) and length of stay.

Canadian visitors spent a total of $136.2 million in March 2014, down 5.9 percent from a year ago. Arrivals of 74,054 visitors (-0.8%) was similar to March 2013, while daily spending declined 4.2 percent to $147 per person.

Arrivals from All Other markets decreased 4.5 percent to 79,622 visitors. However, higher daily spending (+18.3% to $264 per person) contributed to a 4.6 percent growth in expenditures from All Other visitors to $190.9 million. Arrivals by cruise ships fell 52.7 percent to 10,592 visitors in March 2014.

There were fewer visitors to the four larger Hawaiian Islands compared to March 2013. Visitor expenditures increased on Maui (+5.7%) and Hawaii Island (+4.9%), but declined on Oahu (-9.5%) and Kauai (-4.3%).

There were 982,885 total air seats to Hawaii in March 2014, up 1.5 percent from last March. Scheduled seats from Other Asia (+10.2%), Japan (+9.5%), Canada (+6.6%) and U.S. East (+3.1%) increased but scheduled seats from Oceania (-5.8%) declined.

Year-to-date 2014:

For the first quarter of 2014, total visitor expenditures fell 3.1 percent to $3.8 billion and total arrivals dropped 3.2 percent to 2,058,207 visitors. Arrivals by air from U.S. West (-7.1%) and U.S. East (-1.5%) declined, while arrivals from Japan (+3.1%), Canada (+1.5%), Other Asia (+13.1%) and Oceania (+5.1%) increased. Total visitor expenditures were higher on Kauai (+1.4%), declined on Oahu (-5%) and Maui (-2.2%), and was about the same for Hawaii Island (+0.7%) compared to year-to-date 2013.

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