Transactions jumped 9.8% in 2012 at isle businesses

It was busier than usual last year at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Waikiki.

Patrons ordered more alcohol and food as record numbers of visitors and an influx of kama­aina patrons boosted business.

Ruth’s Chris was just one of many businesses that saw sales increase last year and, in particular, in the last quarter of last year. Statewide credit and debit card transactions at businesses open at least a year jumped 11.3 percent during the fourth quarter from the year-earlier quarter and 9.8 percent for 2012.

That marked the largest quarterly and full-year increase since First Hawaiian Bank, the state’s largest local credit card processor, began issuing reports in 2010. It also marked the first time in a quarter that all 16 business sectors tracked in the report posted positive gains.

"We’re optimistic," First Hawaiian President and CEO Bob Harrison said. "It’s consumer- and tourism-driven. This really demonstrates that we’re into a solid consumer-driven economy."

Jon Kobashigawa, general manager of Ruth’s Chris in Waikiki, said improved tourism translated to higher sales.

"The driving force was increased tourism and just more people walking through the door," said Kobashigawa, who estimates that 60 percent to 70 percent of the Waikiki restaurant’s customers are tourists. "Spending was a little up from last year. It was something we anticipated. We had a strong year in tourism, so that usually impacts us in a positive way in Waikiki. We like to think it’s going to continue this year on the trend we saw in 2012."

Statewide visitor spending of $12.9 billion through the first 11 months already has eclipsed the full-year record of $12.8 billion in 2007. Visitor arrivals, which totaled 7.3 million through November, will surpass the record of 7.6 million in 2006 when the Hawaii Tourism Authority releases final 2012 figures later this month.

First Hawaiian, the largest bank in Hawaii with $16.1 billion in assets, can track the economic pulse of the state through its processing services. The bank has more than 7,500 merchants on its network, with most of those in Hawaii.

Hotel card transactions last quarter jumped 22.6 percent — the second-largest percentage gain of any of the 16 sectors tracked — and transaction volume for hotels was $111.3 million, the most of any sector, according to the report due out today. It was the highest year-over-year percentage gain for hotels in any quarter since First Hawaiian began tracking the sectors.

Restaurants, another good indicator of economic growth, had the second-highest transaction volume last quarter at $101 million, with card transactions up 11.5 percent.

Shipping, which includes land and sea, had the highest percentage gain at 41.5 percent, but that came from a relatively low transaction volume of $16.1 million.

For the year, First Hawaiian processed $2.9 billion in card transactions in Hawaii compared with $2.7 billion in 2011. Hotels had the highest transaction volume at $604.7 million, followed by restaurants at $447 million.

"What we’ve got now is strong consumer spending with debit and credit (card transactions) consistently growing year over year for three years now," Harrison said. "We see other parts of the economy engaged, namely construction, where there are new projects getting ready to start in the next few months. So that should add to these very solid consumer numbers we’re seeing in the report."

The three-year upward trend began with a 6.4 percent increase in same-store sales, or businesses open at least a year, in 2010 over 2009. It then rose 8.6 percent in 2011 over 2010.

"Our feeling is that we’re going to see continued improvement," Harrison said. "I don’t think we’ll see any huge increases, but we’ll see steady growth in 2013."