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Visitor arrivals grew in October as spending dropped

STAR-ADVERTISER / AUG. 21

Waikiki Beach was packed with people during the early evening as the sun set. Statewide visitor arrivals rose in October, but spending dipped slightly, according to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority this morning.

Statewide visitor arrivals rose in October, but spending dipped slightly, according to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority this morning.

HTA reported that total arrivals rose 4 percent year-over-year to 770,359. However, spending dropped to $1.31 billion —down 0.7 percent from the year-ago figure.

Monthly visitor arrivals rose from Hawaii’s core visitor market, the U.S. West; its second-largest visitor market, the U.S. East; and the mature Canadian market. But fewer visitors came from Japan, the state’s top international market, and the category called all other international markets, which includes all foreign destinations outside of Canada and Japan.

Visitor spending gains came from the U.S. West, the U.S. East, Canada and Japan, but the increases were not high enough to offset a more than 20 percent drop in spending from the all other international markets category.

Oahu posted increased visitor arrivals, but a drop in spending. Maui and Kauai realized gains in spending and arrivals. However, Hawaii island experienced drops in both arrivals and spending.

Trans-Pacific air seats in October rose more than 6 percent to 1,021,853.

With the October increases, Hawaii still is on track to achieve better results in 2018 than were realized in 2017. During the first 10 months of the year, visitor spending grew nearly 9 percent to $14.93 billion.

Through October, visitor arrivals rose more than 6 percent to nearly 8.3 million. Gains came from the U.S. West, U.S. East, Canada and the category called all other international markets. However, arrivals from Japan fell during the first 10 months of the year.

Trans-Pacific air seats rose nearly 9 percent during the first 10 months of the year to more than 11 million seats.

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