Hawaii posts solid tourism gains in October

Hawaii tourism continued its blistering pace in October, kicking off the fourth quarter ahead of forecasts with further gains expected.

October arrivals to Hawaii increased nearly 3 percent year over year to 736,974 visitors, while their spending rose just over 4 percent to $1.3 billion, Hawaii Tourism Authority reported Thursday.

During the first 10 months of 2017, visitor arrivals grew about 5 percent to nearly 7.8 million visitors. Through October, visitor spending climbed nearly 7 percent to almost $13.9 billion. Through October, the tourism industry generated $1.62 billion in state tax revenue or about $103 million more than was earned during the same period last year.

Hawaii is expected to reach 9.2 million visitors and $16.8 billion in spending by year’s end, according to the latest forecast from the Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism. If that happens, it would make 2017 the sixth consecutive year to post growth in arrivals and spending.

“2017 is going gangbusters. I haven’t seen a market like this in 10 years. The final two months of the year are even more impressive than the other months. Our advance bookings for next year are up by double digits,” said Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays LLC, Hawaii’s largest wholesale travel seller. “It looks like 2017 and 2018 will be record years.”

Richards said new and upgraded lodging, increased air seat capacity and stable air fares have contributed to Hawaii tourism gains. U.S. demand for competitive destinations like the Caribbean and Mexico has waned due to weather woes and travel advisories, he said.

Richards noted American travelers are electing to stay closer to home and corporate incentive groups are booking Hawaii again. Also, Hawaii’s emphasis on marketing to the U.S. East Coast has paid off, he said.

“The U.S. East market stood out above all others with impressive growth of 13 percent in visitor spending, 6.2 percent in average daily spending, and 8 percent in visitor arrivals,” HTA President and CEO George Szigeti said.

Szigeti said strengthening air access also has benefited the state, especially Hawaii island, whose October results reflected Japan Airlines’ decision to relaunch daily service between Tokyo and Kona in mid-September.

“Seeing the (Big) island’s visitor spending increase by 15.3 percent and arrivals grow by 12.3 percent in October are phenomenal results for a month that is an off-peak period for travel to Hawaii,” he said.

Danny Ojiri, vice president of market development for Outrigger Enterprises, said Japan Airlines’ Hawaii island load factors have been strong and are expected to hit 90 percent in November. Demand for new service from Air Asia X also has resulted in load factors above 80 percent, he said.

“The meat is definitely from Japan, but outbound travel from Asia is very brisk because the global economy is booming,” he said.

Erik Kloninger of Kloninger &Sims Consulting LLC said Hawaii island and Kauai tend to lag the other islands, but have been tourism growth front-runners. Strong results from both islands has narrowed the gap with Maui, but Kloninger said they still have room for growth so he expects their upward trend to continue throughout the year.

Kloninger said alternative accommodations also have allowed Oahu to keep growing despite limited hotel capacity.

“Year to date through October, visitors to Oahu who say that they will stay in a rental house, private or shared room in a private house, is up almost 25 percent,” he said. “It’s become a meaningful part of our visitor mix.”