Isle tourism record all but certain

Pop the Champagne already. Hawaii’s tourism industry can safely celebrate 2015 as being a record year for visitor arrivals and spending.

The number of tourists visiting the state in December and how much money they spent won’t be tallied for another month or so, but a record is pretty much certain based on preliminary November statistics released Tuesday.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority reported that 661,352 visitors came to Hawaii last month, a record for November that represented a 3.7 percent gain over the same month last year and the ninth consecutive month of record-breaking growth.

Furthermore, visitor spending rose 2.5 percent to $1.1 billion in November even as per-person, per-day spending fell 0.5 percent to $195.80.

George Szigeti, HTA president and CEO, said operators in Hawaii’s biggest industry and main economic force deserve credit for evolving product offerings and tailoring marketing messages to match diversified interests of travelers.

“What an amazing achievement for our visitor industry, especially for a mature travel destination like Hawaii coming off three consecutive record-setting years,” he said in a statement. “This consistency of success signifies how compelling Hawaii’s brand is to global travelers.”

For the first 11 months of the year, 7.86 million tourists visited the state, up 4.2 percent from the same period last year. Visitor expenditures this year through November are up 2.2 percent to $13.6 billion.

Last year’s record arrival total was 8.31 million visitors. If December arrivals only match the 766,035 arrivals last December, the full-year total for 2015 would be up by about 300,000 visitors to roughly 8.63 million visitors and produce a fourth consecutive annual record.

In terms of spending, last year’s total was $14.8 billion. If spending this month only matches the $1.47 billion last December, spending for all of 2015 would be up by about $300 million to $15.1 billion.

Barry Wallace, executive vice president of hospitality services for local hotel and resort operator Outrigger Enterprises, said a powerful year-end surge is capping 2015 visitor arrivals.

“December is turning out to be very, very strong,” he said, adding that bookings for the first quarter of next near also look good.

One weak spot that Wallace noticed in November was near-flat arrivals on Hawaii island.

“I took that to be the impact of dengue fever,” Wallace said, referring to the illness that is transmitted by mosquitoes and has infected about 180 people, including 18 visitors, since an outbreak began a little over two months ago.

Visitors to Hawaii island rose a scant 0.5 percent, which compared with a 0.8 percent increase on Kauai, 2.8 percent on Maui and 4.1 percent on Oahu. Wallace said Big Island arrivals typically lag Oahu but was uncharacteristically soft last month. “It got hammered, unfortunately,” he said.

Statewide, the increase in November visitor arrivals was driven mainly by mainlanders, including a 9.5 percent jump for U.S. East travelers representing 119,167 arrivals and a 5.1 percent gain for U.S. West travelers representing 285,638 arrivals.

Arrivals from Japan edged up 0.3 percent to 122,840 while visitors from Canada decreased 4.8 percent to 43,197. Arrivals from all other international markets increased 7.3 percent to 86,761 and was driven mainly by arrivals from China, Australia and South Korea. There were 10,710 visitors from China, up 8.1 percent; 24,517 visitors from Australia, up 4.2 percent; and 14,279 visitors from South Korea, up 3.2 percent.

All the gains were related to air travel, as airlines had 4.4 percent more capacity serving Hawaii in November compared with a year ago. The number of visitors who arrived on cruise ships last month dropped 56 percent to 3,749. There were just two out-of-state cruise ship arrivals last month, compared with six ships that brought 8,600 visitors a year earlier.