Hawai‘i Visitor Spending Generated $1.52 Billion in February 2018

News Release from HTA, March 29, 2018

HONOLULU – Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands spent a total of $1.52 billion in February 2018, a gain of 12.7 percent compared to a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA).

Total arrivals to Hawai‘i increased 10.3 percent to 778,571 visitors in February, supported by growth in arrivals by air service (+10.3% to 764,043) and by cruise ships (+8.4% to 14,528). Total visitor days1 grew 8.5 percent in February versus a year ago. The average daily census2 , or number of visitors on any given day in February, was 252,965, up 8.5 percent compared to February of last year.

Spending by visitors from the U.S. West market increased (+5.2% to $494.4 million) in February. Total visitor arrivals also rose (+12.5% to 294,082), supported by expanded air service to the neighbor islands. However, the average daily spending by each visitor (-3.9% to $187 per person) was lower in February compared to a year ago.

The U.S. East market reported a sizeable increase in visitor spending (+14.4% to $409.8 million) in February, boosted by growth in visitor arrivals (+10.3% to 176,435) and higher average daily spending (+5.6% to $226 per person).

Visitor spending from the Japan market rose significantly (+15.6% to $202.9 million) in February versus last year. While the growth in visitor arrivals was marginal (+0.9% to 124,648), visitors stayed longer (+3.3% to 5.96 days) and spent more per day (+10.9% to $273 per person) compared to a year ago.

The Canada market saw growth in visitor spending (+9.7% to $148.9 million) in February versus last year, supported by increases in arrivals (+4.9% to 63,863) and average daily spending (+8.5% to $182 per person).

In February, combined visitor spending from All Other International Markets increased sharply (+26.8% to $264 million), boosted by growth in arrivals (+20.9% to 105,016) and higher average daily spending (+7.8% to $262 per person).

All four larger Hawaiian Islands recorded increases in both visitor spending and arrivals in February compared to last year.

A total of 1,005,821 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in February, up 10.3 percent from a year ago. Growth in air seats from Other Asia (+32.5%), U.S. West (+13.8%), U.S. East (+11%), Canada (+3%) and Oceania (+1.9%) offset a decline in seats from Japan (-3.3%).

Year-to-Date 2018

Through the first two months of 2018, visitor spending (+8.5% to $3.21 billion) exceeded the results from the same period last year, bolstered by growth in visitor arrivals (+7.7% to 1,575,054) and average daily spending (+2.2% to $212 per person).

Visitor spending increased from U.S. West (+6.9% to $1.08 billion), U.S. East (+8.8% to $860.5 million), Japan (+5% to $394.8 million), Canada (+7.8% to $320 million) and All Other International markets (+15.1% to $545 million).

Visitor arrivals increased from U.S. West (+13.3% to 598,173), U.S. East (+6.6% to 354,397), Canada (+5.7% to 133,026) and All Other International markets (+10.9% to 219,269) but declined from Japan (-1.4% to 243,415).

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Related: 3/28/2018 Hawai‘i Hotels Statewide Averaged RevPAR of $252, ADR of $294 and Occupancy of 85.6% in February