More tourists spend more money in isles

The world’s travelers continued their love affair with Hawaii in February as visitor arrivals and spending grew.

An estimated 675,517 tourists visited Hawaii last month, a 7.8 percent increase from February 2012.

Visitor spending, which has been growing monthly since January 2011, rose to $1.22 billion, a 9.9 percent rise from February 2012. Visitors last month spent an average of about $198 a day per person. That’s roughly $10 more per day than they spent in February 2012.

An average of 217,341 visitors were in Hawaii each day in February, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

“Through working with our industry partners, we have been able to grow visitor expenditures and arrivals on all Hawaiian Islands, with significant increases on the neighbor islands,” Mike McCartney, HTA president and CEO, said in a statement.

February’s strong results helped boost visitor arrivals during the first two months by 6.9 percent to 1.35 million. The monthly gains also bolstered spending for the first two months of the year by 9.6 percent to $2.66 billion. So far this year, visitors have spent $45 million per day in Hawaii as compared with the $39.2 million that they averaged during the first two months of last year. The gains helped the visitor industry generate an additional $188 million in visitor spending and $20 million more in state tax revenues than in the same period in 2012.

“The improvements of last year have carried over into the first quarter both from an occupancy and an average daily rate perspective,” said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia. “We are hopeful that with Easter being in March this year, that we won’t have any letdown in April or May. Right now it looks OK.” 

Jerry Westenhaver, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, said his property isn’t seeing a seasonal slowdown.

“We’ve got four major revenue streams coming in from Japan, Australia, Korea and North America.

As you walk around the hotel, you hear so many languages being spoken,” Westenhaver said. “We are still in major demand internationally. That will help us next quarter and probably into next year.” 

Arrivals from Japan grew 3.9 percent to 118,926 last month. Canadian tourists increased 1.7 percent to 65,304 last month. The number of visitors from China tripled in February to 14,097.

Arrivals from other markets, which included Oceania, Europe, Latin America and Asian nations outside of Japan, increased 26.4 percent.

“Hawaii is so popular with Australians right now,” said Eliza Young, a first-time visitor from Sydney.

“Everywhere we go, we’re running into Australians, and most of my friends have already booked trips here.” 

Young and her fiance, Craig Clark, are responsible for some of the recent gains out of Oceania. The couple was engaged in New York then decided to hold a party in Hawaii.

“Lots of people are meeting us here to celebrate. We chose to bring the party here because it’s halfway to home and it’s so beautiful,” Young said.

While Waikiki is still the hotel occupancy leader because it has a greater balance of domestic and international guests, Vieira said group business buoyed the neighbor islands in the first quarter.

“While we are making strides in increasing travel and affecting economic recovery on the neighbor islands, we believe there is still potential for growth and continue to work to drive demand across all of the Hawaiian Islands,” McCartney said.

Airline access to Hawaii is key to increasing visitor distribution, he said. In January and February international airline seats increased by 11 percent, McCartney said. HTA expects the growth to continue through the first quarter because of additional airline seats from New Zealand and Tokyo-Narita.

While summer is still too far away to forecast, Vieira said the traditional off-peak spring season looks like less of a valley.

“Right now I’m fairly optimistic about the second quarter,” he said.

McCartney said the HTA’s plan to support marketing events like Mele Mei and the LPGA Lotte Championship will boost travel during the slower months of April and May.

“North America’s longer than anticipated winter season also is contributing to positive arrivals as visitors opt to travel to the Hawaiian Islands for our year-round tropical climate,” he said.

Sacramento visitor Chuck Jami­son, who is in Waikiki awaiting the annual Scottish games, said he monitors Hawaii’s visitor industry because he and his wife own a condotel at the Aloha Surf.

“We watch it since we have a tiny piece of the pie,” Jamison said. “When we aren’t using the condo, we put it in the hotel pool. Lately it’s been very busy.”