TOTAL VISITOR ARRIVALS ROSE 2.3 PERCENT COMPARED TO FEBRUARY 2014

Total Visitor Expenditures Decreased 4.3 percent to $1.2 Billion

News Release from HTA March 25, 2015

HONOLULU – Total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Island in February 2015 rose 2.3 percent to 661,747 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. Arrivals by air increased 3 percent to 650,036 visitors, offsetting a decline in arrivals by cruise ships (-26% to 11,711 visitors). Similarly, total visitor days1 were up 2.2 percent compared to February 2014.

However, total visitor expenditures decreased 4.3 percent to $1.2 billion2 in February 2015. The losses in visitor expenditures were mainly from U.S. East (down $45.8 million) and Japan (down $29 million). Average daily visitor spending (-6.4% to $194 per person) was lower compared to last February.

For the U.S. East market, arrivals by air fell 3.4 percent to 138,822 visitors. Daily spending (-11.8% to $191 per person) also declined. This resulted in a 13.7 percent decrease in visitor expenditures to $287.8 million. Arrivals from Japan dropped 3.5 percent to 120,511 visitors. Lower daily spending (-11.3% to $254 per person) also contributed to a 14.2 percent decrease in visitor expenditures to $174.9 million.

U.S. West arrivals grew 8.8 percent to 242,601 visitors in February 2015. However, lower daily spending (-5.3% to $164 per person) and a shorter average length of stay (-2.3% to 9.36 days) netted only a slight gain in visitor expenditures (+0.7%) to $373.1 million.

Despite a 1.5 percent decline in Canadian arrivals to 65,255 visitors, daily spending increased (+3% to $176 per person) and these visitors stayed longer (+2.3% to 13.42 days). This led to a 3.8 percent growth in visitor expenditures to $154.1 million. Arrivals from All Other markets were up 13.1 percent to 82,848 visitors, led by a 27.1 percent growth in arrivals from Oceania. Combined expenditures from All Other visitors rose 8.5 percent to $194.4 million. Visitors days increased among the four larger Hawaiian Islands compared to February 2014: O‘ahu (+3.5%), Maui (+1.7%), Hawai‘i Island (+1%) and Kaua‘i (+4.9%).

There were 888,944 total air seats to Hawai‘i in February 2015, which was a growth of 4.9 percent over a year ago. Scheduled seats from Oceania (+24.6%), Canada (+13.7%), U.S. West (+8.5%) and U.S. East (+3%) increased, offsetting fewer seats from Other Asia (-13.8%) and Japan (-6.6%).

Year-to-date 2015:

For the first two months of 2015, total arrivals of 1,340,617 (+0.8%) were slightly higher than the same period in 2014. However, total visitor expenditures fell 3.3 percent to $2.6 billion. Total visitor expenditures declined on Hawai‘i Island (-7.9%) and O‘ahu (-7.3%), but increased on Kaua‘i (+4.4%) and Maui (+2.9%).