Hawaii visitor arrivals up 2.3 percent in April
Visitor arrivals from international markets including Europe, Oceania, Latin America and Asian countries outside of Japan rose 15.7 percent in March to 86,880 visitors. Beachboy Uncle Gil taught Miral Kapadia of India some surfing basics Thursday on Waikiki Beach.
Visitor arrivals were up 2.3 percent in April compared to a year ago and spending was up 5.4 percent to $1.2 billion, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Hawaii hosted 677,754 visitors in the month. Arrivals by air grew 4.1 percent to 665,393 visitors, offsetting a 46.6 percent decline in arrivals by cruise ships.
Total visitor days were up 2.1 percent compared to April 2014. Average daily spending was up 3.2% to $196 per person.
After four months of declines, Japanese arrivals rose 1.9 percent to 98,240 visitors in April.
"Expenditures for Hawaii’s visitor industry have started to stabilize with a boost in spending in March and April of this year," said Ronald Williams, HTA’s CEO, in a statement. "This has helped to bring year-to-date spending on par with last year, reaching nearly $5 billion in total expenditures through April.
