More visitors but less spending

More visitors came to Hawaii in May than during the same month last year, but they spent slightly less, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Total visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands in May rose 1.3 percent from a year ago to 718,913 visitors. There were more visitors from Hawaii’s core U.S. West market and its second-largest market, the U.S. East. Visitors from international destinations increased except for Canada and Japan, which posted decreases.

But greater arrivals couldn’t offset lower daily spending across most markets. May visitor spending in Hawaii averaged $1.2 billion, a 2.4 percent decrease in spending from the same month in 2015. While daily spending rose among visitors from Canada and the cruise ships, there were losses from the U.S. East, Japan and a category called “all others,” which includes Asian countries outside of Japan, Oceania, Europe and Latin America. Total spending by visitors from the U.S. East was nearly flat and rose in the all-others category but contracted in the U.S. West, Japan, Canada and cruise ship markets.

“Overall, it’s a mixed month as we’ve had for the last couple of months,” said Daniel Nahoopii, HTA director of tourism research. “Visitor arrivals are still increasing, mainly driven by the U.S. markets and the smaller international markets. Spending has plateaued in some markets and actually declined in others.”

Only Maui posted increases in both visitor arrivals and spending among the four major islands. Visitor arrivals on Oahu grew but spending declined. Hawaii island saw fewer arrivals but it posted higher spending. Kauai showed decreases in arrivals and spending for the month.

Barry Wallace, executive vice president of Hospitality Services for Outrigger Enterprises Group, said the strong domestic market carried the numbers.

“It’s good to see Maui picking up again since it’s one of our higher-priced markets,” Wallace said.

Growth in total air seats to the Hawaiian Islands declined compared with May 2015, falling 0.1 percent to 979,229. Seats from Asian markets outside of Japan rose 29.1 percent, and there was a healthy 5.3 percent growth from Oceania. However, the gains couldn’t offset a 15 percent decline from Canada, a 9.4 drop from the U.S. East and a 4.4 percent decrease from Japan, Hawaii’s largest single-country international market.

George Szigeti, HTA president and CEO, said May declines in arrivals and expenditures from Japan and Canada can be attributed to a weaker exchange rate and timing. Golden Week, which is a popular Japanese travel period because of its confluence of holidays, shifted travel to late April this year versus the first week of May in 2015, he said.

Still, Szigeti said, “Visitor arrivals and expenditures year-to-date show that Hawaii is still ahead of last year’s record-setting pace with total arrivals up 3.1 percent and spending up 1 percent.”

Teri Orton, general manager of the Hawai‘i Convention Center, said the facility had a “good mix” of business on the books for May. During the first five months of the year, Orton said, the center achieved net income of $72,000. Through May, Orton said, the center held 86 events, which brought its occupancy to within 29 percent of its goal.

“Most of our contracts are signed in December, so the sales team is confident that we are on target to meet our year-end goal,” she said.

Orton said the center will look to end the year with nearly $13.2 million in gross revenue and a net loss of $1.7 million, down from the $2.9 million net loss that was previously anticipated.

As the HTA looks ahead, Szigeti said, the agency will closely monitor the situation in Europe to see how it might affect travel.

“It’s too early to know precisely how the situation there will affect the global economy, including tourism-related impacts,” he said.

The good news is that Europe and the United Kingdom have relatively small Hawaii footprints. Last year 8.6 million visitors came to Hawaii, but only 143,434 were from Europe, with only 50,469 of that total coming from the United Kingdom.

Wallace said the industry has seen summer gains due to the Rim of the Pacific, a large international maritime exercise, which began Thursday and runs through Aug. 4.

“RIMPAC ships have started to arrive, and more are coming,” he said. “The bulk of the activity is in July, but we’ll have visitors all the way through August.”

Wallace said the World Conversation Congress’ International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which will be held Sept. 1-10 in Honolulu, will bolster the fall shoulder season.

“We’re pretty poised for a good year,” Wallace said. “We’re just getting to the booking window for September on, and it’s ahead of last year. By the end of the year, we expect to be well ahead of 2015.”