VISITOR ARRIVALS REACHED A RECORD HIGH FOR SEPTEMBER BUT VISITOR EXPENDITURES DECLINED 1.2 PERCENT

News Release from HTA, October 28, 2015

HONOLULU – Total arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands achieved a new record for the month of September, with an increase of 4.7 percent to 652,616 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA). Growth in arrivals from U.S. West (+6.3% to 248,646) and Canada (+4.2% to 20,504 visitors) more than offset slight declines from U.S. East (-0.6% to 109,813) and Japan (-0.7% to 137,156) compared to September 2014. Arrivals from all other markets rose 4.3 percent to 112,332 visitors.

While visitor volume exceeded last September’s level, lower daily spending across many visitor markets caused a 1.2 percent decline in total visitor expenditures for September 2015 to $1.1 billion. Among the top four visitor markets, only U.S. West showed higher daily spending (+4.6% to $166 per person), which contributed a 6.5 percent growth in visitor expenditures to $366 million. Decreased daily spending resulted in losses in U.S. East (-5.5% to $221.1 million), Japanese (-12.1% to $194.9 million) and Canadian (-0.6% to $38.3 million) visitor expenditures.

All four larger Hawaiian Islands saw growth in arrivals: Kaua‘i (+4.7%), Maui (+4.3%), Hawai‘i Island (+2.1%) and O‘ahu (+1.3%) compared to September 2014. Expenditures increased for Maui (+5.7% to $279.1 million) and Kaua‘i (+8.6% to $101.3 million), but declined for O‘ahu (-4.7% to $560.2 million) and Hawai‘i Island (-6.2% to $119.2 million).

There were 881,549 total air seats to Hawai‘i in September 2015, up 2.1 percent from the same month last year. Growth in scheduled seats from Canada (+27.8%), Oceania (+13%), U.S. West (+2.2%) and Japan (+1.6%) offset a 4.9 percent drop in available capacity from Other Asia.

Arrivals by cruise ship climbed 84.2 percent to 24,165 visitors, with 13 cruise ships arriving in September 2015 compared to eight ships in the same month last year.

Year-to-date 2015

Through the first nine months of 2015, total arrivals rose 4.1 percent and visitor spending increased to $11.3 billion (+2.6%). Growth in arrivals from U.S. West (+7.5%) and U.S. East (+2%) offset fewer visitors from Japan (-1%). Expenditures by U.S. West (+6.9% to $4 billion) and Canadian (+3.6% to $804.7 million) visitors increased, counter balancing declines in U.S. East (-1.7% to $2.8 billion) and Japanese (-10.1% to $1.6 billion) visitor expenditures.

Maui (+5.8%), Hawai‘i Island (+4.6%), Kaua‘i (+4.6%) and O‘ahu (+2.4%) saw growth in arrivals compared to a year ago. Higher daily spending contributed to increased visitor expenditures on Maui (+6.4% to $3.2 billion) and Kaua‘i (+14.9% to $1.2 billion). Visitor expenditures on O‘ahu (-0.8% to $5.4 billion) dropped slightly, while visitor expenditures on Hawai‘i Island (+0.2% to $1.4 billion) remained stable.

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