TOTAL VISITOR EXPENDITURES INCREASED 3.3 PERCENT TO $1.1 BILLION IN OCTOBER 2014

Total Arrivals Rose 3 Percent for the Month

News Release from HTA November 26, 2014

HONOLULU – Total expenditures by visitors who came to the Hawaiian Islands in October 2014 increased 3.3 percent, compared to October 2013, to $1.1 billion1, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA). Total arrivals rose 3 percent to 659,821 visitors but the average length of stay was shorter for core visitor markets. The average daily spending of $198 per person was similar to October 2013.

Arrivals by air from U.S. West were up 9.1 percent to 259,144 visitors in October 2014. Higher daily spending (+6.8% to $166 per person) also contributed to a 13 percent gain in U.S. West visitor expenditures to $401.4 million. Growth in U.S. East arrivals (+7.7% to 123,675 visitors) and increased daily spending (+8.3% to $217 per person) led to a 13.2 percent increase in visitor expenditures to $265.5 million.

For the Japanese market, a 2.7 percent drop in arrivals (to 134,202 visitors) and lower average daily spending (-2.6% to $283 per person) resulted in a 7 percent decline in visitor expenditures to $212.6 million. Canadian visitor expenditures fell 4.7 percent to $63 million, and arrivals decreased 1.4 percent to 30,163 visitors.

Arrivals from All Other markets totaled 100,681 visitors (+6.2%) with combined expenditures of $198.4 million (-7.4%). Arrivals by cruise ships of 11,957 visitors were down 51.6 percent from October 2013.

Among the four larger Hawaiian Islands, visitor arrivals rose on O‘ahu (+4.4%), Maui (+6.9%), and Hawai‘i Island (+11.1%), but declined on Kaua‘i (-1.9%). Visitor expenditures increased on Maui (+20.1% to $312.1 million), Hawai‘i Island (+4.5% to $141.5 million) and Kaua‘i (+19.2% to $118.6 million). In contrast, visitor expenditures on O‘ahu decreased (-6% to $560.1 million) compared to last October.

Air capacity to the state rose 5.4 percent to 897,190 total air seats in October 2014. There were more scheduled seats from U.S. West (+11.2%) and U.S. East (+9.8%) compared to October 2013 when many domestic carriers were cutting back their seat inventory. Scheduled seats from Canada (+4.9%) and Other Asia (+1%) also increased, offsetting fewer seats from Japan (-7.8%) and Oceania (-2.6%).

Year-to-Date 2014:

Total expenditures by all visitors (by air and by cruise ship) increased 2.2 percent to $12.2 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, boosted by higher daily spending. Total arrivals of 6,879,749 visitors (+0.7%) were comparable with year-to-date 2013. Visitor expenditures from U.S. West (+2.9% to $4.1 billion), U.S. East (+3% to $3.1 billion) and Canada (+2.8% to $840 million) were higher, but Japanese visitor expenditures showed a loss of 2.8 percent to $2 billion.