ANNUAL 2012 TOTAL VISITOR SPENDING REACHED A RECORD $14.3 BILLION WHILE TOTAL ARRIVALS WAS THE HIGHEST EVER

News Release from HTA January 24, 2013

HONOLULU – Growth in total visitor expenditures and arrivals in every month of the year elevated annual 2012 total visitor expenditures to a record $14.3 billion1, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. A record 7,998,815 total visitors (+9.6%) came to the state in 2012, exceeding the previous high of 7,628,118 visitors in 2006.

For the month of December 2012, total visitor expenditures rose 14.9 percent (or +$184.6 million) to $1.4 billion, boosted by higher daily spending (+9.4% to $194 per person) and a 6.3 percent growth in total arrivals (to 733,709 visitors).

Annual 2012 Highlights:

There were strong increases in total visitor expenditures from U.S. West (+12.2% to $4.6 billion), U.S. East (+9.9% to $3.4 billion), Japan (+21.7% to $2.6 billion), Canada (+9.8% to $995 million) and All Other markets (+50.7% to $2.6 billion).

Arrivals among the top visitor markets exceeded 2011: U.S. West (+6.7% to 3,194,975), U.S. East (+3.5% to 1,699,124), Japan (+17% to 1,452,563) and Canada (+4.3% to 498,241).

A total of 992,291 visitors arrived from developing markets, up 21.3 percent from 2011 (see Visitor Arrivals by Air from All Other Markets, page 6).

Total visitor expenditures and arrivals by air for the four larger Hawaiian Islands increased from 2011: O‘ahu (+18.7% to $7.4 billion; +11.1% to 4,891,540); Maui (+18.8% to $3.6 billion; +5.9% to 2,295,867); Hawai‘i Island (+17.7% to $1.7 billion; +8.8% to 1,434,271); and Kaua‘i (+20.1% to $1.4 billion; +7.3% to 1,084,868).

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