Hawaii Visitor Statistics Released for January 2019

News Release from HTA, February 28, 2019

HONOLULU – Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands spent a total of $1.62 billion in January 2019, a decrease of 3.8 percent compared to January 2018, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

In January, visitor spending increased from the U.S. East (+2.4% to $461.6 million) but declined from U.S. West (-5.4% to $557.8 million), Japan (-6.5% to $179.4 million), Canada (-2.1% to $167.6 million) and All Other International Markets (-9.4% to $254.4 million) compared to a year ago.

On a statewide level, average daily visitor spending was down (-5.3% to $199 per person) in January year-over-year. Visitors from U.S. East (+1.0%) spent more per day while visitors from Japan (-11.3%), U.S. West (-5.4%), Canada (-2.3%) and All Other International Markets (-14%) spent less.

Total visitor arrivals to Hawaii grew 3.0 percent to 820,621 visitors in January, with total visitor days[1] also increasing (+1.6%) versus a year ago. Arrivals by air service (+3.2% to 809,098) increased, while arrivals by cruise ships (-5.9% to 11,523) declined.

Arrivals by air service realized growth from Japan (+5.7%), U.S. West (+4.5%), U.S. East (+2.4%) and All Other International Markets (+0.7%), which offset a slight decrease from Canada (-1.0%). The average daily census[2] of total visitors in the Hawaiian Islands on any given day in January was 263,679, up 1.6 percent compared to January of last year.

Among the four larger islands, only Oahu recorded increases in both visitor spending (+6.7% to $706.4 million) and visitor arrivals (+6.8% to 491,922) in January versus a year ago. Visitor spending on Maui decreased (-13.8% to $472.6 million) despite growth in visitor arrivals (+1.2% to 233,320). The island of Hawaii recorded declines in both visitor spending (-5.5% to $253.4 million) and visitor arrivals (-6.5% to 148,126), as did Kauai with its visitor spending (-7.8% to $176.4 million) and visitor arrivals (-2.9% to 106,064) in January year over year.

A total of 1,134,182 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in January, up slightly (+1.0%) from a year ago. Growth in air seats from Canada (+10.9%), Japan (+5.9%) and U.S. West (+1.5%) offset declines from Other Asia markets (-20.2%) and U.S. East (-2.9%). Air seat capacity from Oceania (-0.2%) was flat compared to January 2018.

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[1] Aggregate number of days stayed by all visitors.

[2] Average daily census is the average number of visitors present on a single day.

SA: January Hawaii arrivals bring more visitors, less spending