A bell sounds as Akiko Saito hands more than $60 worth of cookies to the clerk to ring up at Honolulu Cookie Co.
Saito, who is a first-time visitor from Japan, is momentarily stunned by the fanfare in the cookie shop at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. However, she smiles after realizing that her shopping has earned extra cookies.
"These cookies are famous in Japan, and the exchange rate is very good," Saito said as she explained her preference for spending the afternoon making purchases instead of at the beach.
"I plan to spend more time shopping this trip than I do at the beach or going on activities," she said.
Visitors like Saito helped pump $7.1 billion into the state’s economy during the first six months of the year, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The 21.4 percent gain meant that visitors during the first half of the year spent $207 million more in Hawaii than they did last year.
Visitor spending has experienced monthly increases since May 2010. However, the current rise in total personal daily spending by visitors from Hawaii’s core U.S. West, U.S. East, Japan and Canada markets during the first six months of the year is worth noting because it’s bolstering revenues across all islands and all types of visitor businesses.
Certainly, the highest gains in personal daily spending are still in the lodging category, which HTA reported climbed 12.3 percent during the first half of the year. Likewise, statewide hotel revenues rose 14.8 percent through June to $1.6 billion, a half-year record for the industry, according to a hotel flash report from Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Advisors LLC.
"Guests are willing to pay more for enhanced services in 2012," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia. "Our Sheraton Club at the Sheraton Waikiki is doing so well that we are looking at introducing it in other hotels next year." The Sheraton Club is an upgraded class of rooms on a floor with a lounge offering complimentary breakfast, snacks and Wi-Fi.
At the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, requests for view rooms and suites are up, said General Manager Jerry Westenhaver.
"Our food and beverage also is doing very well," Westenhaver said. "During peak times we’re getting sold-out crowds in our two brand-new restaurants, and that’s really great."
It’s a positive sign for Hawaii’s visitor industry that spending gains have moved beyond the traditional rise in average daily room rates that accompanies firmer occupancies.
The HTA recently reported that during the first six months of the year, Hawaii’s core market visitors from the U.S. West, U.S. East, Japan and Canada spent, on average, 9 percent more on shopping, 8.8 percent more on food and beverage, 8.5 percent more on transportation and 5.1 percent more on entertainment than in the same period a year ago. Through June these core visitors averaged $78.50 a day on lodging, $40.50 for food and beverages, $28.80 on shopping, $19.10 for transportation, $16.10 on entertainment and $7.90 for miscellaneous purchases.
Toni Marie Davis, executive director of the Activities & Attractions Association of Hawaii (A3H), which markets 3,500 products statewide, said Internet direct sales on the organization’s Hawaiifun.org site hit $34 million this fiscal year.
"We’re not back to the 2006 and 2007 glory years yet. However, we realized about a 20 percent gain in sales volume over last year and a 44 percent increase as compared to two years ago," Davis said. "Most of our travelers are booking a couple of activities."
Visitors Daryl and Susan Larsen of Waterloo, Iowa, said Wednesday that they booked a Paradise Cove luau, a circle-island tour and a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial during the first week of their trip alone.
"Everybody told us to be prepared because Hawaii would be expensive," said Daryl Larsen, who was shopping for island attire in the recently opened Crazy Shirts on Kalakaua Avenue. "Prices might be a little higher, but we think it’s pretty comparable."
This week the Larsens plan to spend their money on the neighbor islands when they island-hop on NCL’s Pride of America.
"It was a long flight, so we want to see and do it all," Susan Larsen said.
That kind of attitude from visitors has helped bolster spending across all islands, with Kauai leading the gains. In June, Kauai’s visitor spending was up nearly 46 percent, and it rose nearly 24 percent through the first six months of the year. Year-to-date spending on Maui increased nearly 23 percent, and it was up 21 percent on Oahu and about 18 percent on Hawaii island.
A resurgence in visitors from Japan, Canada and the U.S. East has bolstered Kauai’s spending, said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors & Convention Bureau.
"People are willing to pay a little more for room rates, and they are starting to enjoy themselves more," Kanoho said.
The HTA’s efforts to increase direct flights to the neighbor islands have helped spread spending gains, said Mary Jane Caldwell, who has run Maui Classic Charters for 22 years.
"It gives us so many more possibilities to have airlines flying here directly," Caldwell said.
While Maui and the rest of the neighbor islands have not seen spending recover as much as Oahu, Caldwell said her business is having a great summer.
"We are more dependent on the U.S. mainland than Oahu," she said. "But we’re coming back."
Even business spending is making strides, said Mike Murray, vice president of sales and marketing, corporate meetings and incentives for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau.
"The incentive market seems to be returning to pre-recession activities," Murray said. "Organizers are starting to offer golf and spa activities again."
Likewise, meeting planners seem more willing to consider neighbor island trips, he said.
"They are spending more on room rates and other business costs than they have in the past," Murray said.
Since business travel is typically booked eight to 24 months out, an organizer’s willingness to commit to increased spending bodes well for Hawaii, Murray said.
"The greater spending is very encouraging," he said.
So far, the first half of 2012 has exceeded the HTA’s total spending target by 11.9 percent, said HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney.
"Our visitors spent an average of $39 million a day during the first half of 2012. That’s up from $32 million a day during the same period in 2011," McCartney said. "At this pace, annual expenditures would exceed $14 billion."
The previous spending record was $12.8 billion in 2007.
