Total Visitor Arrivals Increased 3.4 Percent in April 2016; Visitor Expenditures Declined 1.1 Percent

News Release from HTA

HONOLULU – In April 2016, total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands increased 3.4 percent from a year ago to 700,573 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA). Total visitor days1 rose 1.8 percent compared to April 2015.

The growth in visitor arrivals in April was boosted by international visitors arriving by air (+6% to 218,487) and from visitors who came on cruise ships (+85.3% to 22,902). Partially contributing to the growth in cruise visitors was a shift in ship schedules, as several ships that came in March and May of 2015 switched to an April itinerary in 2016.

Visitor arrivals by air increased (+1.8% to 677,671), driven by growth in Japanese visitors (+4.5% to 100,512) many of whom came during the last week of April 2016 for Golden Week. Arrivals from other international markets (+14.3% to 108,106) also increased compared to April 2015. However, there was no growth in arrivals from U.S. West (-0.5% to 294,264) and U.S. East (-0.2% to 133,262), and arrivals from Canada declined (-8.6% to 41,527).

Lower average daily spending (-2.8% to $191 per person) in April 2016 resulted in a drop in total visitor expenditures (-1.1% to $1.1 billion). Visitor expenditures declined from Canada (-15.5% to $74.4 million) and from other international markets (-7.1% to $241.2 million). For the Japan market, although daily spending was down (-5.3%) in April 2016, growth in arrivals boosted visitor expenditures (+3.6% to $138.2 million).

Higher daily spending among U.S. East visitors (+8.7%) contributed to a gain in visitor expenditures (+6.8% to $265.5 million) in April 2016. Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in April was comparable (+0.5%) to last year, but visitor expenditures declined (-1.5% to $417.7 million).

Among the four larger Hawaiian Islands, visitor arrivals increased for O‘ahu (+2%) and Maui (+4.5%) but visitor expenditures declined for O‘ahu (-5.8%) and Maui (-2.8%) in April 2016 compared to last year. Hawai‘i Island had a small growth in arrivals (+0.8%) but a notable gain in visitor expenditures (+13.1%). Arrivals to Kaua‘i were unchanged while visitor expenditures increased (+6.2%) in April year-over-year.

Growth in total air seats to the Hawaiian Islands in April 2016 was flat (-0.5% to 975,737) compared to last year. Declines in scheduled seats from Japan (-6.8%), Canada (-2%) and U.S. West (-1.2%) offset increases from Other Asia markets (+26.9%) and Oceania (+9.1%).

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