New record set for Hawaii tourist arrivals

HONOLULU, Hawaii – “November was the latest record setting month for visitor arrivals in a string of nine consecutive record setting months. What an amazing achievement for our visitor industry, especially for a mature travel destination like Hawaii coming off three consecutive record setting years,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), commenting on the release of Hawaii’s visitor statistics for November 2015.

“This consistency of success signifies how compelling Hawaii’s brand is to global travelers. Hawaii’s marketing message is being well received in key markets and our industry partners deserve credit for how they have evolved their product offerings to match the diversified interests of today’s travelers.”

Total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands in November 2015 set a new record for the month with 661,352 visitors, a 3.7 percent growth year-over-year compared to November 2014, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). November marked the ninth straight month total visitor arrivals have surpassed the previous monthly records.

Visitor arrivals on airlines increased in November 2015 (+4.5% to 657,603), with the balance arriving on cruise ships (-56.4% to 3,749 visitors).

Year-over-year growth in arrivals on airlines from U.S. West (+5.1% to 285,638) and U.S. East (+9.5% to 119,167) more than offset a decrease from Canada (-4.8% to 43,197). Visitor arrivals from Japan (+0.3% to 122,840) were comparable to November 2014, while arrivals from all other international markets increased for the month (+7.3% to 86,761).

Hawaii’s four larger islands realized growth in visitor arrivals in November compared to the year prior: Oahu (+4.1% to 407,570), Maui (+2.8% to 193,355), Kauai (+0.8% to 83,021), and Hawaii Island (+0.5% to 107,558).

More visitors stayed exclusively on one island this November – Maui (+7.5%), Oahu (+6.3%), Kauai (+5.7%), and Hawaii Island (+4.7%) – compared to November 2014, while fewer visitors (-4%) stayed on multiple islands.

Total visitor expenditures grew in November 2015 (+2.5% to $1.1 billion) compared to the year prior, driven by a 3 percent increase in total visitor days, which compensated for slightly lower per person per day spending (-0.5% to $196 per person).

Among Hawaii’s top four visitor markets, visitor expenditures increased from U.S. West (+6.6% to $430.7 million) and U.S. East (+7.3% to $254.8 million), but declined from Japan (-7.2% to $174.9 million) and Canada (-12.3% to $80.6 million).

Hawaii’s four larger islands saw year-over-year increases in visitor expenditures in November: Kauai (+9.7% to $115.9 million), Maui (+5.2% to $320.4 million), Hawaii Island (+2.6% to $143.4 million), and Oahu (+0.7% to $557 million).

There were 927,289 total air seats to the Hawaiian Islands in November 2015, up 4.4 percent from a year ago. Growth in scheduled seats from Canada (+16.9%), Oceania (+8.2%), U.S. West (+5.7%), U.S. East (+4.8%) and Other Asia (+1.2%) offset a 1.8 percent decline in seats from Japan.

Year-to-Date 2015

In the first 11 months of 2015, total visitor arrivals (+4.2% to 7,855,111) and visitor expenditures (+2.2% to $13.6 billion) maintained its positive pace over the same period in 2014. Growth in arrivals from U.S. West (+7%) and U.S. East (+2.8%) offset slightly fewer arrivals from Japan (-0.8%). Gains in U.S. West visitor expenditures (+6.4% to $4.8 billion), counter-balanced a slight drop in U.S. East spending (-0.8% to $3.3 billion) and a decline from Japan (-9.7% to $2 billion). Expenditures of $943.4 million by visitors from Canada in the first 11 months of 2015 were similar to the same period last year.

Year-to-date, Maui (+5.1%), Kauai (+4.5%), Hawaii Island (+3.9%) and Oahu (+2.6%) experienced growth in visitor arrivals compared to the first 11 months of 2014. Visitor expenditures increased for Maui (+5.8% to $3.8 billion), Kauai (+14.6% to $1.5 billion) and Hawaii Island (+1% to $1.7 billion), but dropped for Oahu (-1.4% to $6.5 billion).