Tourism Continues to Improve

The U.S. West market showed continued growth, up 4.2% to 208,427 visitors during March as compared to the same time last year. Compared to February, arrivals from this segment were up 16.8 percent.

"We are encouraged to see that the 9-11 impact is diminishing," said DBEDT Director Seiji Naya. "Since the original shock, monthly visitor counts have consistently been improving. Our largest market, the U.S. West, has been doing well since last December. The U.S. West market provided about 37 percent of our total visitors in March."

Overall, total visitor days for March 2002 were off by 7.8 percent compared to the same month last year, primarily due to lower visitor arrivals (-7.6%). Year-to-date, a slightly longer average length of stay (up to 9.51 days from 9.28) has been offset by the 11 percent decline in arrivals (down to 1,533,603 from 1,723,659) to yield an 8.8 percent decline in visitor days.

Visitors Arriving on Domestic Flights

Domestic visitor days, compiled from flights originating in U.S. cities, fell 1.8 percent in March 2002 due to a decrease in arrivals (-2.3%) that offset a slightly longer length of stay (up to 9.44 days from 9.39). Year-to-date domestic visitor days have fallen 3.4 percent compared to the same period in 2001.

The U.S. market, which accounts for 93 percent of all domestic visitors, had its best performance since September 2001. An early Easter and spring break contributed to growth in arrivals from the Pacific and Mountain regions (+4.9% and +0.9%, respectively). However, declines in the other U.S. areas pulled the total U.S. market down by 1.5 percent from the same month last year. In addition, a general decline in domestic visitors originating from all other countries (with the exception of the small Central American market, up 66.8%) resulted in a 2.3 percent decline in total domestic arrivals.

Compared to last March, fewer domestic visitors traveled to multiple islands (-2.9%). Overall, with the exception of Lanai (up 2.3%), all islands experienced decreases in arrivals. Year-to-date, arrivals to Lanai have risen (+2.4%), while the remaining island visitation figures have fallen.

During March more domestic visitors came to visit friends and relatives (+4.8%) and to vacation (+1.0%), while fewer visitors came to honeymoon (-4.8%). In terms of meetings, conventions and incentives, there were 21.0 percent fewer MCI visitors compared to last year as all three categories declined. Finally, the share of repeat visitors was up 2.9 percentage points to 68.2 percent from 65.3 percent a year ago.

Visitors Arriving on International Flights

International visitor days, compiled from flights originating outside the U.S., decreased 21.3 percent in March due to drops in visitor arrivals (-17.4%) and a lower average length of stay (-4.8% to 7.4 days).

Fewer international visitors traveled to multiple islands (-11.7%) during March. Island visitations to Molokai and the Big Island rose 130.1 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. The remaining islands experienced decreased visitations. Year-to-date, Molokai is the only island that has had an increase in island visitations, up by 69.3 percent.

Compared to last March, more international visitors arrived for meetings, conventions and incentives (+63.9%) and for government or military purposes, which surged 1,185.9 percent. Fewer came for vacation (-19.1%) and to visit with friends and relatives (-5.8%). Lastly, repeat visitors rose 4.8 percentage points from a year ago to 49.8 percent.

Island Highlights

All the islands except Molokai experienced lower visitations in March. Compared with March last year, total visitations to Oahu declined 9.4 percent followed by Kauai (-9.1%), Maui (-5.0%), Lanai (-4.5%) and the Big Island (-3.6%). Arrivals jumped 15.7 percent on Molokai.

Compared to March of last year, domestic visitors on Maui stayed the longest at 7.21 days (+2.2%), followed by Oahu at 7.09 days (+1.0%), Kauai at 6.37 days (+2.1%), the Big Island at 6.60 days (+0.7%), Molokai at 4.28 days (+1.4%) and Lanai at 3.67 days (-12.7%).

In March 2001, international visitors on Maui stayed the longest at 6.70 days (+21.1%), followed by Oahu at 5.99 days (-9.7%), the Big Island at 4.20 days (-2.9%), Kauai at 3.52 days (-32.9%), Lanai at 2.36 days (+13.0%), and Molokai at 2.27 days (-1.8%).

Visitor Characteristics

On the positive side for the month, visitors coming to Hawaii for government and military business increased 75.9 percent, followed by those coming to attend school (+20.3%), conventions (17.1%) and to visit friends and relatives (3.4%). However, there was a big drop in incentive travel (-42.1%) this March mainly due to the decline in the Japanese incentive travelers (-95.4%). Fewer visitors came to honeymoon (-17.2), for other business (-15.9%), for corporate meetings (-15.1%), and for vacation (-6.2%).

Year to date, the number of visitors in Hawaii for government and military business (+39.2%), to attend school (+31.1%), to visit friends and relatives (+3.1%), and to participate in conventions (+1.7%) has increased, while incentive travelers (-42.0%), corporate meeting visitors (-39.0%), other business visitors (-17.6%), honeymooners (-12.8%) and vacation travelers (-10.2%) declined over the same period last year.

There was a shift in preference in lodging during March compared with a year ago with lodging of all types, except hotels, experiencing increases in guests. Hotel lodging declined 11.4 percent this March as compared to March last year. More repeat visitors came this March to comprise 62.5 percent of total visitors, up 4.2 percentage points from March last year.

Cruise Ship Visitors

A total of seven cruise ships toured the islands in March 2002 carrying 19,308 passengers, including those who arrived by air to board ships and those who came with the ships. This month's passenger count represents an increase of 18.3 percent over last March when eight cruise ships toured Hawaii carrying 16,327 passengers.

Of the cruise passengers who came in March, 58 percent were repeat visitors to the islands. Cruise visitors stayed an average of 7.5 days in Hawaii, of which 5.3 days were spent on the cruise and another 2.2 days were spent before and/or after the cruise.

Of those who stayed extra nights in Hawaii either before or after shipboard cruises, about 91.4 percent chose to stay in hotels.

U.S. West Visitors

Growth in arrivals (+4.2%) offset a slight decrease in average length of stay (-0.9% to 9.28 days), which resulted in a 3.2 percent increase in U.S. West visitor days during March.

Year-to-date visitor days were 2.3 percent higher than the same period last year. U.S. West visitors accounted for 35.7 percent of total visitors on a year-to-date basis.

Arrivals from the U.S. West totaled 208,427, with 77.1 percent being repeat visitors to the islands, slightly higher than the 76.1 percent of a year ago. More visitors were here on government and military business (+8.6%), to vacation (+8.5%), and to visit friends and relatives (+3.5%), while the number of MCI travelers fell 14.7 percent from the previous year. Year-to-date, there has been growth in the number of visitors attending schools (+15.2%), visiting on government and military business (+13.5%), here to visit friends and relatives (+9.5%), and for vacation (+5.8%). MCI travelers (-15.5%) and honeymooners (-2.7%) have declined on a year-to-date basis.

Compared to last March, visitations increased on the Big Island (+8.3%), Maui (+5.5%), Oahu (+5.0%), and Lanai (+4.7%), but decreased for Molokai (-24.7%) and Kauai (-0.7%).

U.S. East Visitors

U.S. East visitor days for March fell 8.5 percent due to lower arrivals (-7.5%) and a decline in the average length of stay, down 1.1 percent to 9.42 days. Year-to-date, U.S. East visitor days have decreased 8.3 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2001.

Of the 162,262 visitors from U.S. East during March, 42.9 percent were first-timers to the islands, down 2.2 percentage points from March a year ago. More visitors were here in March for government and military business (+27.6%), as well as for conventions (+9.8%), while fewer came for all other purposes - to vacation (-5.2%), to visit friends and relatives (-2.1%), and to honeymoon (-0.8%). Year-to-date, the number of visitors on government business (+15.7%) and visiting friends and relatives (+0.7%) increased while all other visit purposes decreased.

All the islands experienced declines in visitations by U.S. East visitors during the month.

Japanese Visitors

Japanese visitor days fell 17.2 percent when compared to last March due to an 18.3 percent decline in arrivals, which was only partially offset by a longer average length of stay (up to 5.98 days from 5.9). Hawaii welcomed 122,633 Japanese visitors during the month. Of these, 49.2 percent were repeat visitors, an increase of 6.2 percentage points over March a year ago.

The majority of Japanese visitors (91.0%) still preferred hotels as their accommodation of choice. Due to the decline in visitors during March, hotel lodging by Japanese visitors dropped 19.6 percent, while condo lodging increased 4.9 percent. There were also more visitors in the islands who stayed with friends and relatives (+137.4%) during the month.

The count of Japanese convention visitors (+84.5%) and corporate meeting visitors (+78.4%) experienced a spike during March, but fewer visitors came to honeymoon (-26.7%) and vacation (-16.6%).

The Big Island (+5.5%) and Molokai (120.7%) had increases in Japanese visitations during March while other islands saw declines. Year-to-date, all the islands are posting double digit decreases in visitor numbers.

Canadian Visitors

Total Canadian visitor days fell 33.2 percent during March due to a decline in arrivals (-30.1%) and a shorter of length of stay (-4.5% to 12.91 days).

All the islands except Molokai experienced declines in visitations by Canadian visitors. Arrivals dropped by 65.7 percent on Lanai, followed by Oahu (-44.0%), the Big Island (-41.8%), Kauai (-31.8%), and Maui (-8.8%) during March, while Molokai experienced a 169.7 percent increase in Canadian arrivals.

More Canadian visitors came to honeymoon (+88.6%), on government business (+28.0%), and to visit friends and relatives (+13.9%) this March. Vacation visitors (-27.2%) and MCI travelers (-0.7%) declined during the month.

Preliminary February 2002 Visitor Expenditures

Total visitor expenditures in February 2002 rose 2.7 percent to $857.7 million as compared with the same period last year. This growth was mainly due to the increase in average per person per day spending to $181.8 per day (+8.3%). Leading the increase in visitor expenditures was the U.S. East market which brought $312.1 million to the State in February 2002. This represents a 12.5 percent growth over the same period last year. The U.S. West market, which experienced an 8.0 percent decline in total spending, ranked second at $244.2 million. Visitors from Japan spent a total of $179.7 million and ranked third with a 10.4 percent growth rate. Spending by Canadian visitors totaled $51.4 million in February 2002, which represents a 20.3 percent decline from the same month in 2001.

For the first two months of 2002, total visitor spending was down by 2.6 percent. Except for Japan which experienced a 0.5 percent growth in total spending, visitor expenditures for all other markets fell on a year to date basis.

Despite the decline in arrivals from the U.S. East market during February, those who did come spent more on daily basis - $198.3 per person per day, up 17.2 percent over February 2001.

Japanese visitors continue to be the highest spenders on a daily basis at $277.9 per person per day. This represents a 37.6 percent increase from the same month last year. The growth in daily spending by Japanese visitors during the month was attributed to the exceptionally low daily expenditures reported in February 2001. In addition, the smaller party size of Japanese visitors who came in this February also contributed to higher daily per person spending during the month.

The U.S. West and Canadian visitors who came in February this year spent less money per person per day than those who came in February last year.

Total per person per trip (PPPT) expenditures rose 13.4 percent over February 2001 to $1,707.3. U.S. East visitors spent the most per trip at $2,100.5 per person. Ranked second in per trip spending ($1911.5) per trip were visitors from markets other than the top four MMAs. This was mainly due to their increase in per person per day spending ($196.1) and their longer average length of stay (9.75 days or +9.6%). Canadian visitors spent $1,831.2 per person per trip with a longer average length of stay (13.02 days). Japanese visitors spent the most on daily basis, but ranked second to the last on a per trip basis ($1,626.6) due to their shorter average length of stay. Japanese visitors spent an average of 5.85 days in Hawaii during February 2002, about 3.5 days shorter than the average for all visitors. U.S. West visitors spent the least per trip in February 2002 at $1,368.4.

Total visitor expenditures in Table A were estimated by multiplying per person per day expenditures for hotel visitors and non-hotel visitors with their corresponding visitor day totals. Approximately 18.2 percent of total visitors to the islands did not stay in hotels during February 2002. These visitors found lodging with friends and relatives, on cruise ships, school campuses, military housing, and at camping sites. The per person per day expenditures estimated in Table A are weighted by total hotel and non-hotel visitor days.

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