Isle tourism hits November record

With 2016 all but in the books, Hawaii’s tourism industry is looking forward to 2017 and what could be a sixth straight year for record tourist arrivals and spending.

Visitor arrivals rose 4.7 percent to an all-time November high of 696,890, according to data released Wednesday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Spending increased for the sixth straight month with a 5.6 percent gain to a November-record $1.2 billion. The year-to-date visitor arrival and spending numbers of 8.1 million and $14 billion, respectively, are easily within reach of last year’s record numbers of 8.6 million visitors and $15.2 billion in spending.

The full-year numbers, which will be released in late January, are expected to easily surpass the record set last year because of an influx of visitors for the Pearl Harbor 75th anniversary and the Honolulu Marathon, and high demand during the holiday season. That should make 2016 the fifth consecutive record-setting year for Hawaii visitor arrivals and spending.

That momentum is expected to continue in 2017. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is forecasting a 1.8 percent increase in arrivals next year while the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization is expecting a 2.4 percent gain.

Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, Hawaii’s largest travel wholesaler, said the early signs for 2017 are encouraging.

“For 2017, we are already seeing high double-digit growth for vacation travel to Hawaii, with the first four months of 2017 exceptionally strong,” Richards said in an email. “We believe Americans are choosing to stay closer to home in 2017 due to recent international events, adequate Hawaii air seat capacity at low fares, new luxury resorts on Oahu and the return of corporate/incentive groups for the first time in several years. We are very optimistic about the Hawaii vacation market in 2017.”

Richards said there is good momentum in the Hawaii vacation market at this time.

“One key point, the air fares are relatively flat year-over-year so this is driven by higher passenger volume rather than higher air and hotel rates,” he said.

George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said he was pleased with November’s performance.

“What makes November’s results especially rewarding is the excellent showing from Japan, Canada and our other international markets as a whole to complement another strong month from the U.S. mainland,” Szigeti said in a statement. “December looks to be an outstanding month for tourism and will further add to this total.”

Through November, Hawaii’s tourism industry has generated $1.64 billion in state tax revenue, which is $64 million more than last year, Szigeti added.

All the major international markets showed gains in November. Japan showed renewed strength, with visitor spending up 13 percent to $187.5 million and arrivals up 4.6 percent to 125,982. Canada spending jumped 7.5 percent to $85.3 million and arrivals rose 3.1 percent to 44,371.

The “all other markets” category, which includes Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, China and Europe among others, saw spending increase 11.4 percent to $236.4 million and arrivals rise 9.5 percent to 98,544.

On the domestic front, the U.S. West, the state’s top market, had a 5.1 percent increase in spending to $457.3 million and a 2.3 percent gain in arrivals to 293,744.

The U.S. East market was mixed with spending declining 4.5 percent to $246.3 million while arrivals gained 4.5 percent to 124,328.