HAWAI‘I VISITOR SPENDING GREW 1.2 PERCENT IN FEBRUARY

(NOTE: February 2016 had 29 days, so comparisons of arrivals and expenditures to February 2015 are not included in the narrative. The totals are in the charts.)

News Release from Hawaii Tourism Authority March 30, 2016

HONOLULU – Total spending by all visitors (by airlines and cruise ships) was $43.3 million per day in February 2016, a gain of 1.2 percent from February 2015, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.  There were 218,150 total visitors in Hawai‘i on any given day (average daily census2 ) representing no growth (-0.4%) from a year ago.

For visitors arriving by airlines, U.S. West average daily census (+2.1% to 82,830 visitors per day) and visitor spending (+7.3% to $14.3 million per day) increased in February 2016 compared to the year prior. U.S. East average daily census (+3.6% to 55,745 visitors per day) and visitor spending (+9% to $11.2 million per day) also rose in February year-over-year.

Japanese average daily census (-5.4% to 22,181 visitors per day) and visitor spending (-8.7% to $5.4 million per day) declined in February 2016 versus last year, as did Canadian average daily census (-14.5% to 26,754 visitors per day) and visitor spending (-27.8% to $4 million per day).

Impacting visitor volume this month was a sharp decline in arrivals by cruise ships. Only two ships visited the islands in February 2016 compared to six ships last year, a decrease of nearly 7,000 visitors. Additionally, the Hawai‘i home-ported cruise ship was in dry dock for refurbishment the last two weeks of February, resulting in a loss of two voyages that equates to a decline of about 4,000 visitors who would have flown to Hawai‘i and toured the islands.

Total air seats to the Hawaiian Islands increased in February 2016 (+7.5% to 958,771), with the daily average also up (+3.8% to 33,061 seats per day) compared to last February. Growth in scheduled air seats from U.S. West (+8.2%), U.S. East (+14.9%), Canada (+9.2%), Oceania (+3.5%), and Other Asia (+30.7%) offset a drop in air seats from Japan (-3.3%).

Year-to-Date 2016 For the first two months of 2016, the average daily census of total visitors (by airlines and cruise ships) increased (+1.3% to 229,358 visitors per day) from year-to-date 2015. Total visitor spending also increased (+2% to $2.8 billion), representing an average of $45.3 million per day versus $44.4 million per day last year.

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