TOTAL VISITOR EXPENDITURES IN AUGUST 2013 WAS COMPARABLE TO AUGUST 2012 WHILE ARRIVALS GREW 2.5 PERCENT

Visitors who came to Hawaii in August 2013 spent a total of $1.2 billion, comparable to August 2012, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Total arrivals, which have shown consecutive growth since September 2011, increased 2.5 percent to 748,775 visitors. However, the average daily visitor spending was lower (-1.7% to $189 per person) compared to August 2012. In the first eight months of 2013, total visitor expenditures reached $10 billion (+5.1%) and total arrivals rose 5.1 percent to 5,662,612 visitors.

After 20 months of continuous growth, arrivals by air from U.S. West fell 1.3 percent to 301,323 visitors in August 2013. A decline in daily visitor spending (-1.1% to $151 per person) also contributed to a 1.7 percent drop in total U.S. West visitor expenditures to $412.7 million. In contrast, growth in arrivals (+2.4% to 146,528 visitors) and higher daily spending (+4.2% to $206 per person) bolstered total U.S. East visitor expenditures to $308 million (+8.9%).

Arrivals from Japan grew 1.8 percent to 161,731 visitors in August 2013. These visitors spent less on a daily basis (-9.7% to $243 per person), resulting in a 5.7 percent decrease in total visitor expenditures to $255.6 million. The Canadian market saw a 5.8 percent growth in total visitor expenditures (to $49.2 million), boosted by growth in arrivals (+2.2% to 27,824 visitors) and increased daily spending.

Arrivals from All Other markets rose 16.1 percent to 109,471 visitors, led by exceptional growth from Oceania (+28.2%) and Other Asia (+50.1%). Combined total expenditures from All Other visitors grew 2.2 percent to $221.3 million.

Similar to last August, one out-of-state cruise ship came to Hawaii in August 2013. Total cruise visitors (by cruise ship and by air) increased 16.8 percent (see page 6).
Among the larger Hawaiian Islands, total visitor expenditures declined on Oahu (-3.9%) but rose on Kauai (+13.2%), Hawaii Island (+10.2%) and Maui (+2.6%) compared to August 2012 (see page 4).

Total air seats in August 2013 increased 2.9 percent to 984,483 seats, with significant growth in scheduled seats from Oceania (+42.5%) (see page 5).

Year-to-date 2013:
Total expenditures by U.S. West (+8.7% to $3.3 billion), U.S. East (+7.3% to $2.6 billion) and Canadian (+1.5% to $697.3 million) visitors increased, while total spending by Japanese visitors declined (-7.5% to $1.6 billion). Arrivals from Oceania (+33.2%), Other Asia (+25.2%), Europe (+11.4%) and Latin America (+23.8%) rose considerably, while arrivals from U.S. West (+5.6%), U.S. East (+1.7%), Japan (+3.5%) and Canada (+3.1%) showed moderate growth.

Maui (+9.1% to $2.5 billion; +3.9% to 1,636,653 visitors), Hawaii Island (+18.4% to $1.3 billion; +4.4% to 1,017,628 visitors) and Kauai (+15.5% to $1.0 billion; +4.7% to 771,067 visitors) showed growth in total visitor expenditures and arrivals compared to the first eight months of 2012. Total visitor spending on Oahu decreased (-1.6% to $5 billion) despite growth in arrivals (+6.4% to 3,493,800 visitors), which was offset by lower daily spending and shorter length of stay.

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