Visitor Arrivals Hold Strong Through September

A new record for visitor arrivals in Hawai’i was set during the month of September. A total of 652,616 tourists visited the island by air or cruise ship, an increase of 4.7 percent.

On the Big Island, tourism saw a 2.1 percent increase in September, up to 102,160 visitors.

These numbers are part of the Hawai’i Tourism Authority’s preliminary statistics released this week.

Despite an increase in volume of visitors, compared to September 2014, lower daily spending across many visitor markets caused a 1.2 percent decline in total visitor expenditures in September 2015, totaling $1.1 billion.

Daily spending by visitors from the western portion of the mainland United States jumped 4.6 percent to $166 per person. Causing the lower spending number was decreases in spending by visitors from the eastern portions of the mainland U.S., Japan, and Canada, with spending drops of 5.5 percent, 12.1 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Visitor growth was seen in visitors from the western portion of the U.S., up 6.3 percent to 248,646. Canada also saw a 4.2 percent increase to 20,504 visitors. However, visitors from the U.S. east and Japan both decreased by 0.6 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The Big Island saw a 4.6 percent boost in arrivals between January and September 2015, supported by a 19.1 percent increase in air seats to Kona. Visitors on the Big Island spent 3.8 percent less and spent 0.5 percent less time on the Big Island. Total expenditures on the island remained stable in September at $1.4 billion.