For the month of April 2011, Hawaii’s tourism economy continued to see growth, both in visitor spending and in the number of visitor arrivals to the islands, despite anticipated declines in the number of visitors from Japan.
In fact, overall visitor spending maintained a double-digit increase for the 12th consecutive month in April 2011, according to Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“Hawai‘i’s tourism economy continued to see growth in April, contributing to a 17.8 percent rise in visitor spending to $4.1 billion for the first four months of 2011,” said McCartney. “This represents the 12th consecutive month of double-digit increases in overall visitor spending. More importantly, this sustained momentum is being experienced on all islands, with arrivals and expenditures currently on pace with our peak years of 2006 and 2007.”
McCartney attributed the growth to increases in visitor numbers from other major market areas, as week as a boost from meetings, conventions and incentives business. He said that, looking ahead, May was expected to also exhibit strong growth and increased marketing efforts to attract visitors from China, Korea, Oceania and North America.
Total visitor days for all visitors increased 10.9 percent, and total arrivals grew 8.9 percent to 2,405,194 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
U.S. West (+13.2 percent), U.S. East (+19.5 percent) and Canada (+35 percent) had double-digit growth in total visitor expenditures in the first four months of 2011, boosted by higher average daily spending and increased arrivals. The devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 resulted in a 4 percent decline in Japanese arrivals for the first four months of 2011, but total Japanese visitor spending continued to increase (+9.6 percent) compared to year-to-date 2010.
For the month of April 2011, total visitor spending rose 20.2 percent ($154.9 million) from April 2010, to $920.7 million. Total arrivals grew 5.3 percent to 581,324 visitors. The average daily spending by all visitors in April 2011 was $176 per person, up from $159 per person in April 2010.
Total arrivals by air in April 2011 increased 5.9 percent to 567,574 visitors. Arrivals from Canada climbed 33.7 percent and arrivals from U.S. West rose 10 percent, while arrivals from U.S. East (+0.7 percent) were stable compared to last April. One month following the tragic events, arrivals from Japan decreased 23.5 percent compared to April 2010.
Arrivals by cruise ships in April 2011 fell 13.3 percent to 13,750 visitors compared to the same month last year.
Additional Total Air Visitor Highlights:
- The total number of visitors who came for meetings, conventions and incentives in April 2011 rose 48.8 percent, driven by strong growth in convention visitors from U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada. However, visitors who came on incentives declined compared to April 2010.
- Condominium properties saw a 17.2 percent growth in total visitors compared to April 2010, particularly from Canadian (+34.1 percent), U.S. West (+18.9 percent) and U.S. East (+9.3 percent) visitors. Growth in the number of total visitors who stayed in condominium properties showed double-digit increases for four consecutive months.
- Total visitor arrivals to all islands in April 2011 increased compared to the same month last year by 5.3 percent.
- Oahu continued to attract the majority of visitors who flew to the state. However, growth in total arrivals by air to the neighbor islands only (+11.5 percent to 238,747 visitors) outpaced Oahu-only visitations (+2.4 percent to 246,951 visitors) in April 2011.
Visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org.