Hawaii Poised for Record Year in Visitor Numbers

Hawaii's visitor numbers are still rising: Total expenditures by visitors who came to Hawaii in July 2012 rose 17.8 percent (or $193.8 million) compared to the previous year to $1.28 billion, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Higher daily spending and a 7.8 percent growth in total arrivals (to 720,355 visitors) contributed to this increase.
 
Among Hawaii's top visitor markets, arrivals by air from U.S. West grew 3.4 percent from July 2011 to 299,072 visitors, the ninth consecutive month of growth. Total U.S. West visitor expenditures increased 10.3 percent to $436.7 million. Arrivals from U.S. East in July 2012 were similar to last July at 166,944 visitors. However, increased daily spending boosted U.S. East total visitor expenditures (+15.1 percent) to $347.8 million.

Mike McCartney, president & CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, noted that the state seems poised to have a record year in terms of visitor numbers. "The state welcomed 1,800 more visitors each day and an additional $17 dollars per person in daily spending compared to 2011," he said of the July figures. "This activity has resulted in total visitor arrivals increasing 9.8 percent to 4.7 million visitors and total expenditures jumping 20.8 percent to $8.4 billion, up $1.4 billion from last year. Year-to-date visitor spending has generated an estimated $915 million in state tax revenues and will help to sustain more than 160,000 Hawaii jobs in 2012.
 
As a result, last month, the HTA revised its targets upward for 2012-2014 with arrivals and spending from U.S., Canada, Japan, Oceania and Europe outpacing original targets set in September 2011.