More people visited Hawaii Island in February than last year but were spending less money per visit.
More people visited Hawaii Island in February than last year but were spending less money per visit.
According to a press release from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, preliminary statistics show tourism increased by 1.7 percent this February compared to the year before with a total of 122,491 visitors.
And while there appeared to be more visitors, there was a decrease in overall spending with per person daily expenditures totalling $154, a drop of about 18.2 percent compared to the same time last year. Last year, visitors spent about $188.80 per day. Total visitor expenditures for the island dropped by 17.4 percent, according to the release.
Hawaii Island isn’t alone in this trend and the tourism authority reports that total visitor arrivals to the state in February rose by 2.3 percent to 661,747 visitors, but total visitor expenditures decreased by 4.3 percent to $1.2 billion. According to the release, losses in visitor expenditures were mainly from less spending from the eastern United States, which was down about $45.8 million, and from Japan, down $29 million. Average daily visitor spending dropped by about 6.4 percent, as well, to $194 per person compared to February 2014.
David Uchiyama, vice president of brand management with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said while an overall decrease in expenditures is occurring throughout the state, it is more pronounced for the Big Island.
“And it all comes down to Japanese business,” he said, stating Japanese visitors tend to spend more even if the length of stay is shorter.
The decrease in visitors from Japan could be contributed to numerous factors, including the currency exchange rate, price positioning, and seat inventory, he said.
Scheduled seats from Japan dropped 6.6 percent in February. The number of seats out of Fukuoka decreased by more than half, as one airline discontinued the route in July 2014. There were also fewer seats out of Narita, which were partially offset by more seats from Osaka, according to the release.
Also, industry experts say some Japanese visitors may have delayed travel to Hawaii in anticipation of lower airfares because of an announced decrease in fuel surcharge starting in April. Those who came in February also spent significantly less on lodging and fewer stayed in hotels with more using condominiums and timeshare properties than last year.
He said a few steps could be taken to offset the trend, including increased neighbor island connectivity with international carriers, increased seat inventory for interisland markets and reopen the custom processing facility in Kona International Airport.
Currently, the organization is working to get preclearance to Japan like there is with Canada, an action supported by Gov. David Ige. Kona lacks customs agents and an international arrivals terminal, blocking direct international flights from landing.
As for the increase of visitors, there were more flights from the West Coast, an increase of 9.3 from the same time last year. Uchiyama said West Coast visitors have different buying habits compared to Japanese visitors who are likely to spend more money per visit.
For the first two months of 2015, total arrivals of 1,340,617 were slightly higher than the same period last year. However, total visitor expenditures fell 3.3 percent to $2.6 billion and total visitor expenditures declined on Hawaii Island by 7.9 percent and Oahu by 7.3 percent. Total visitor expenditures increased; however, on Kauai by 4.4 percent and Maui by 2.9 percent.
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Hawaii Island: Arrivals to Hawaii Island were up by 1.7 percent to 122,491 visitors. There were fewer day trip visitors compared to last February, a decrease of about 10.4 percent. There was a decrease in daily spending by 18.2 percent to $154 per person, resulting in a 17.5 percent decrease in visitor expenditures to $148.6 million.
Oahu: Arrivals to Oahu increased 2.1 percent to 396,899 visitors in February. There were more visitors from western U.S., an increase of about 6.8 percent and from Canada, an increase of 3.7 percent. There was a decrease of visitors from the eastern U.S., dropping by about 8.1 percent and Japan with a decrease of 3 percent compared to February 2014. There was also a 5.2 percent loss in visitor expenditures to $529.3 million in February.
Maui: Arrivals on Maui increased 3.5 percent to 195,624 visitors. More visitors were taking day trips to Maui compared to February 2014. However, daily spending declined 2.4 percent to $216 per person and visitor expenditures on Maui dropped slightly, by .8 percent to $366.8 million.
Kauai: Arrivals grew 5 percent to 86, 497 visitors in February 2015. There were more visitors who stayed exclusively on Kauai, an increase of more than 10 percent and those who made day trips compared to last February. Daily spending increased 3.2 percent to $188 per person, which led to an 8.3 percent growth in visitor expenditures to $129.7 million.
Cruise Ship Visitors: Six out-of-state cruise ships with 11,711 visitors came to Hawaii in February 2015 resulting in a 25 percent decrease from February 2014 when eight ships arrived to the island with 15,828 visitors. Arrivals by cruise ships have shown double-digit decreases since October 2014. The total number of visitors who came by cruise ships or by air to board cruise ships dropped 18.1 percent to 20,180 visitors in February 2015.
During January and February, 20,969 visitors entered the islands on 13 out-of-state cruise ships. This was a decrease of 37.4 percent than the 33,508 visitors who came on 20 cruise ships during the same time last year. A total of 40,955 visitors came by cruise ship or by air to board cruise ships in the first two months of this year, a 21.3 percent decrease from the same period last year.