Tourists keep coming despite pricey vacations

Calgary resident Mike Sheilan, book in hand, was relaxing on the beach and soaking in the sun Thursday in Waikiki while his wife and two kids were entertaining themselves elsewhere.

Just down the sand in front of the Outrigger Reef on the Beach, Elaine Stoops of West Sacramento, Calif., who had come by herself, was likewise catching some rays as well as looking forward to taking in the dinner show of “Legends in Concert.”

While their trips to Hawaii are costly, both said it was well worth the money to come to the islands.

And neither was holding back when it came to expenses.

That mindset helped visitor spending rise 7 percent in June to $1.31 billion from $1.22 billion a year ago, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. With the year half over, visitor spending is up 6.9 percent to $7.4 billion and on pace to eclipse last year’s record of $14.3 billion.

Likewise, visitor arrivals also are on a record pace after rising 5.5 percent in June to 716,577 from 679,463 in the year-earlier period. At midyear, arrivals are up 5.6 percent to 4.2 million. The record for arrivals achieved last year was just shy of 8 million.

Sheilan, a consulting engineer in the oil and gas industry, said he travels every continent of the world doing work and that this was only his family’s second vacation in three years. But he said besides this trip, they came here last year and likely will come again next year.

“The kids love it here, and we don’t have much summer where we’re from (in Canada),” Sheilan said.

“We like the laid-back atmosphere. We like the fact that we can just come here and don’t have to worry about renting a car. We can walk everywhere. We can take the bus wherever we need to go, and it’s close to the water. We’re landlocked where we are so we don’t really have water. So this is a great, nice two weeks to forget about work.”

It’s also a nice two weeks to forget about watching the wallet. Per-person, per-day spending last month was up 2.4 percent to $197.50 from $192.90 a year ago. Per-person, per-trip spending rose 1.5 percent to $1,824.10 from $1,797.90.

“It’s a lot more expensive than other places we could go to,” he said. “Warm places to go to would be Phoenix, Las Vegas or Mexico. All those places are quite a bit cheaper than here, so we just build it into our budget. We just know we’re going to spend more money, and you just do it. You don’t think about it. You just know that’s what you get when you come here. We just have a good time. When we get back we worry about the bills later.”

Stoops, a retired detective with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, said it was her first trip to Hawaii in six years and fourth overall. She said the price she paid for her one-week trip was affordable.

“It’s not what it was 20 years ago, but nothing is,” she said. “I went through Costco, and they had a package that I didn’t think was too bad with the airfare and everything. The whole package was $3,133.”

Like Sheilan, Stoops expects to return to Hawaii again next year. She purchased a time share from Wyndham after attending a presentation.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and they answered all my questions and I really felt it’s something I’ll use every year,” she said. “I just love Hawaii. Every time I’ve been here, the people are so friendly. Everybody is in a good mood here. I don’t feel like there’s a bad problem with crime or anything. I felt safe enough to come here by myself.”

Despite many tourists’ love affair with Hawaii, HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney said it’s important that the state work toward increasing and upgrading accommodations across the islands to maintain the tourism industry’s success. Six-month spending and arrival numbers are below the full-year targets of $15.86 billion and 8.5 million, respectively, that HTA revised in March.

“As we move into the second half of the year, we must be mindful that the world economy is fragile,” he said. “We will need to invest more to keep our market share and stay competitive. Hawaii has reached a point where prices for visiting the Hawaiian Islands has limited the flow of inbound business.”

Last month, U.S. West arrivals had the best showing with a 10.4 percent gain in arrivals and a 15.3 percent increase in spending. Japan, the state’s top international market, had a 3.1 percent increase in arrivals, but spending dropped off 11.2 percent. Canada had a 9.7 percent gain in arrivals and 11.1 percent rise in spending. The U.S. East, however, was down 3.4 percent in arrivals and up a scant 0.8 percent in spending.

Arrivals from all other markets rose 10 percent and spending jumped 23.2 percent as scheduled air seats from Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) jumped 63.2 percent and Other Asia, which includes Seoul and Shanghai, increased 28.5 percent.