June busts out tourism records

It’s hard to find a vacant spot on Waikiki Beach or a beachfront hotel with available rooms since June ushered in the best summer season that Hawaii’s visitor industry has seen in about five years.

It’s easy to find happy wholesalers, hoteliers, retailers, tour operators and food sellers.

"We’re all pretty bullish," said Jerry Westenhaver, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. "We have an opportunity here. If we do it right, hopefully we can ride this wave a lot longer than we have in the past."

June marked the start of the hottest summer since 2007 for Hawaii tourism. While the market has seen rising arrivals since September and spending growth since April 2010, it broke records last month. Total visitor spending in June rose by 20.4 percent to $1.2 billion, a record for June. The $207 million gain helped push spending during the first six months of the year to $7.1 billion, an increase of 21.4 percent, according to statistics released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

"I’ve been restocking shelves more," said Derek Scott, owner of Loco Trendz, a Waikiki-based Hawaiian giftware wholesaler. "Orders are up 5 to 10 percent."

An 11.5 percent rise in arrivals and higher daily spending increases were behind the June spending increase. In June the state welcomed 677,218 tourists, also a record for the month. During the first six months, arrivals rose 10.2 percent to 3,932,266 tourists.

"Hawaii’s tourism economy is on pace (for) a record-breaking year in 2012 with double-digit increases in visitor arrivals and expenditures through June," said HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney.

Despite continued global economic uncertainty, travelers are coming to Hawaii, Westenhaver said.

"People are just saying ‘Let’s do it,’ and they are coming in numbers that we haven’t seen in a long time," he said. "Hawaii is a magical place. It’s a dream for a lot of people."

Arrivals from Hawaii’s top U.S. West market grew for the eighth consecutive month. Arrivals from this core market were up 4 percent from a year ago to 285,342 visitors. Likewise, U.S. West spending grew 9.8 percent to $410 million.

The number of visitors from the U.S. East, Hawaii’s second-largest tourist market, grew for the 10th straight month. U.S. East arrivals rose 8.1 percent to 173,002 visitors. Spending by U.S. East visitors went up 10.6 percent to $339 million.

Japanese tourists, the state’s largest international market, grew 21.9 percent to 115,788 visitors. Spending rose 31.4 percent to $219.1 million.

Canadian arrivals increased 3.4 percent to 16,705 visitors. Total Canadian spending grew 14.9 percent to $30.1 million.

Arrivals from all other places, which include Korea, China and Taiwan, grew by 39.6 percent to 86,381. Spending by these tourists also grew 58.9 percent to $219.5 million.

"Usually, we’ll have one or two pistons firing; however, we are seeing people come from all four corners," Westenhaver said. " It’s really packing the city."

Waikiki’s beachfront hotels are all running occupancies above 90 percent, said Jerry Gibson, general manager of the Hilton Hawaiian Village and area vice president of Hilton Hawaii.

"That translates into very busy restaurants, hotels and employees and great tax dollars. It’s an all-around boost to the economy."

While Oahu is seeing double-digit year-over-year growth for summer, gains also are spreading to Kauai and Hawaii island, said Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays LLC, Hawaii’s largest wholesaler.

"With the return of the Japa­nese travelers, increases from China, Korea and Australia and the RIMPAC military exercises, we had a hard time finding Waikiki rooms in July," Richards said. "This was an acute issue that we had not seen in many, many years."

The volume of business on Oahu pushed some travelers to the Garden Island and the Big Isle, he said. However, higher-priced hotel rooms and airfares on Maui dampened demand from Pleasant’s customers, Richards said.

Still, June, July and August will bring a solid three months of travel to the islands, he said.

Kualoa Ranch spokes­woman Valerie King said summer demand has been so robust that the attraction hasn’t been able to accommodate all requests.

"There have been a lot of days where our packages have sold out by morning. We’re doing very, very well, and we think it will continue into fall," King said. "We already got quite a few large groups booked."

The ranch has hired more Korean- and Chinese-speaking workers in anticipation that these markets will keep growing, she said.

"They are into sightseeing, and they are big retail spenders, too," King said.

The positive momentum is expected to continue through the second half of the year with the increase in air service by Allegiant Travel, Asiana Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and international charter flights, McCartney said.