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STAR-ADVERTISER
Beachgoers peppered the sand and ocean at Waikiki Beach in December 2015. More visitors came to Hawaii this May than during the same month last year, but they spent slighly less, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).
More visitors came to Hawaii this May than during the same month last year, but they spent slighly less, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).
Total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands in May 2016 rose 1.3 percent from a year ago to 718,913 visitors. There were higher visitor volumes from the Hawaii’s core U.S. West Market, it’s second largest U.S. East Market and from international destinations outside of Canada and Japan, which posted decreases.
But greater visitor arrivals weren’t enough to offset lower daily spending across most visitor markets. May 2016 visitor spending in Hawaii averaged $1.2 billion, a 2.4 percent decrease in total visitor expenditures from the same month in 2015. While spending from Canada increased, there were losses from the U.S. West and Japan, and spending from the U.S. East stayed flat.
Only Kauai and Maui posted increases in both visitor arrivals and spending. Visitor arrivals on Oahu grew, but spending declined. Hawaii island saw fewer arrivals; however, it posted higher spending.
Growth in total air seats to the Hawaiian Islands compared to last May — falling 0.1 percent to 979,229. Seats from Asian markets outside of Japan rose 29.1 percent and there was a healthy 5.3 percent growth from Oceania. However, the gains couldn’t offset a 15 percent dip from Canada, a 9.4 drop from the U.S. East, and a 4.4 percent decline from Japan, Hawaii’s largest single-country international market.
George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO, said May declines in arrivals and expenditures from the Japan and Canada markets can be attributed to a weaker exchange rate and timing. Golden Week, which is popular Japan travel period because of its confluence of holidays, shifted travel to late April this year versus the first week of May in 2015, he said.
Still, Szigeti said, “Visitor arrivals and expenditures year-to-date show that Hawaii is still ahead of last year’s record-setting pace with total arrivals up 3.1 percent and spending up 1 percent.”
It helped that visitors from Hawaii’s two largest markets, the U.S. West and East, led arrivals in May, Szigeti said. He said these domestic markets continue their year-over-year growth, despite a slight drop in arrivals last month due to the Easter holiday travel falling around March instead of April.
As HTA looks ahead, Szigeti said the agency will closely monitor the situation in Europe to see how it may affect travel.
“It’s too early to know precisely how the situation there will affect the global economy, including tourism related impacts,” he said.
The good news is that Europe and the United Kingdom have relatively small Hawaii footprints. Last year, 8.6 million visitors came to Hawaii, but only 143,434 were from Europe, with only 50,469 of that total coming from the United Kingdom.
Visitor spending is down on Oahu because these visitors know they are being “gouged” by the local shops and taken to the cleaners with every cent they have from taxis that take the long route to t-shirt shops that overprice their goods to luxury brand shops that prices their luxury items that could pay for a trip around the world…..RIDICULOUS!! Go to Ala Moana Shopping center and the turnover from local to mainland brands stores are even more absurb……..
Visitors are going to Mexico and Thailand. It costs more to get there but they make up for it with the price of goods and services.
Mexico? How’s the Wall coming along? Real American spend in America!