Tourism industry set new arrivals, spending records in 2015
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
A record 8,649,357 visitors were welcomed to Hawaii in 2015, a 4.1 percent increase over 2014.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
A record 8,649,357 visitors were welcomed to Hawaii in 2015, a 4.1 percent increase over 2014.
Hawaii’s tourism industry achieved its fourth year of new records for visitor arrivals and visitor expenditures in 2015 with the momentum expected to continue into 2016.
A record 8,649,357 visitors were welcomed to Hawaii in 2015, a 4.1 percent increase over 2014, producing a record of $15.2 billion in visitor spending, an increase of 2.3 percent year-over-year, according to preliminary year-end statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. On any given day in Hawaii there were 214,469 visitors, a 3.5 percent increase over 2014’s average daily census.
A strong December contributed to this stellar 2015 finish. For the month of December 2015, Hawaii welcomed 794,246 visitors, an increase of 3.7 percent. These visitors spent $1.5 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent or $37 million more than December 2014.
“Congratulations to everyone in our tourism industry for contributing to Hawaii’s record-setting year,” said George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO. “Everyone shares in the accomplishments of tourism, and all of our communities benefit from its success.”
Szigeti said tourism is off to a strong start in 2016 and the outlook for the year is bright and optimistic.
“The public can be assured, however, that HTA is not resting on the laurels of tourism’s past success,” he said. “Tourism is incredibly competitive. We are utilizing HTA’s state funding wisely, efficiently, responsibly and aggressively to compete for the attention of global travelers against destinations worldwide.”
5 responses to “Tourism industry set new arrivals, spending records in 2015”
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I guess they had to recycle the picture from the story about the crumbling sea wall in Waikiki from earlier in the week. Too funny!
Really, I don’t know about these numbers. Someone said that our #1 tourists from Japan are struggling financially. That their yen to $ has dropped significantly. Unless I’m being lied to again, Maybe they trying to gain sympathy because of that leaky reactors at Fukushima. Or did they hope we just forget that. We see our whales returning, BUT did we forget that they came back to Hawaii very late, and that there are only a few here and there, and to me looks like they are struggling to survive.
and the beat goes on…bragging about all time revenue, profits and hotel occupancy….so the hotel bullies of Waikiki continue to complain that Mayor Kirk not doing enough to sweep da homeless out of Waikiki…so they say it’s a problem da City has to deal with….how sassy and clueless…The homeless problem in Waikiki is a problem that these rich hotel operators and owners should be dealing with…they have kala to help with increased outreach, support services, create new supportive housing with Gov Ige’s efforts; and should be cutting a check for at least $5 million or more…how dare they give a $150,000 check to Mayor Kirk and say they are helping…all shibai…Waikiki hotels have one of the best training programs in the world, esp training folks for basic jobs like room cleaning, light maintenance, gardening,management training. etc …and da homeless folks who want to work would be a great group to recruit from…so I say…Rick Egged and his boys make a commitment to hire at least 200 homeless this year….esp with unemployment rate below 5% in Hawaii nei…Hawaii hotels and visitor industry can be part of the homeless solution…no expect govt do all…go look at public-private partnership in cities like SF, Seattle, NY and Chicago… private sector helping with solutions…no just be cry babies because a small # of folks need a place to put their head down at nites….and need some kaukau during the day…please show some aloha spirit…and soon….
Please take a course in civics or something and learn how our government is supposed to work. Taxes from those hotels (which total more than $150M) are supposed to pay for more just filling the potholes on your street.
I was down in Waikiki the other day – seemed like most of the homeless there were mainland transplants wanting handouts. Not locals that could use outreach or support services – just dirty chronic bums that don’t even want a job. My guess is that the hotels owners hands are tied in being able to remove these transplants.