Big Island Visitor Arrivals, Spending Rose In November

Tourism in Hawai’i increased in November, compared to its 2013 counterpart. With spending at $1.4 billion, November saw a 3.4 percent increase compared to last November.

The numbers are part of preliminary statistics released by the Hawai’i Tourism Authority on Tuesday.

Hawai’i also saw an increase in overall arrivals, raising by 2.2 percent compared to last November. A total of 637,664 visitors who had a spending average of about $194 per person was up from $192 in 2013.

Majority of the arrival growth occurred on the Big Island by 4.8 percent. Maui grew by 3.6 percent and Oahu by 2.7 percent from November 2014. Visitors to Kaua’i remained about the same as last year.

Increased visitor spending was seen on Maui, with an increase of 16.8 percent to $314.1 million, The Big Island also had a sizeable spending increase, rising 6.8 percent to $141.7 million, while spending on Kaua’i rose 3.4 percent to $103 million. Oahu visitors spent 3.7 percent less compared to last November, totaling $530.4 million.

Another statistic that rose was of arrivals from the U.S. West, which increased by 4.3 percent, as 267,696 visitors traveled by air to reach their island destination. Higher daily spending by these visitors has contributed to a 7.4 percent growth in visitor expenditures to $398.8 million.

A similar statistic was observed in arrivals from the U.S. East, which reached 108,872 visitors. While the amount of visitors remained relatively similar to the previous year, spending on a daily per person basis increased by 14.6 percent from $213 to $237.

In addition to domestic arrivals, a 1.8 percent growth was seen in Japanese arrivals. Despite the slight increase in arrivals, the daily per person spending number has shrunk by 5.5 percent, helping to aid the 4.7 percent overall decrease in visitor expenditures to $187.1 million.

Canadian arrivals were comparable to those seen in November 2013, but the visitor expenditure fell 12.3 percent to $92 million in November 2014.

A total of 84,686 visitors arrived from all other markets, an increase of 8.8 percent. The combined expenditures of these arrivals was about $183.6 million.

Visitors by cruise ships dropped significantly in November 2014, with only 8,616 arrivals, a decrease by 42.8 percent.

A 2.8 percent rise in air capacity has been seen this year, compared to November 2013, by 887,913 seats. A rise of 15.9 percent of scheduled seats from Oceania, 6 percent from the U.S. East, 5.5 percent from the U.S. West and 5.4 percent from Canada offset a 8.1 percent decrease from Japan.