HAWAII. Total visitor days to Hawaii declined by -1.1% year-on-year in February, once again influenced by a soft Japanese market, according to new figures from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The decline was due to a -2.1% drop in total arrivals to 561,410 visitors. The average length of stay was slightly longer at 9.48 days. Among the top four markets, visitors from the US West (+6.1%) increased but arrivals from the US East (-9.9%), Japan (-5.3%) and Canada (-5.3%) were lower than in the same month last year. The Japanese visitor market is vital for the duty free channel, dominated by DFS Group. But it has been severely impacted over a protracted period by the softness of the Yen to the US Dollar (US$1 currently stands at ¥118.83).
The fall in Japanese numbers was less severe than in January which posted a -12.3% decline. Japanese visitors to Hawaii fell by an alarming -9.4% in 2006.
Japanese visitors spent a total of US$328.3 million, -1.2% lower compared to the same period last year. Japanese visitors continued to spend the most of any group on a daily basis at US$284 per person, an encouraging increase of +8.5%.
For the first two months, Japanese visitor days were -9% lower than in 2006, due to a -9% decrease in visitor arrivals to 208,560. The average length of stay was unchanged at 5.54 days.
For Canadians, total expenditures rose +11.3% to US$137.6 million for the first two months of 2007, driven by an +11.2% increase in average daily spending to US$146 per person.
Canadian arrivals dipped slightly by -0.6% to 68,772 visitors. However, the average length of stay increased (+0.7%) to 13.68 days, resulting in a +0.1% growth in visitor days.
MORE STORIES ON HAWAII’S TOURISM SECTOR
Hawaii’s Japanese visitor market starts 2007 poorly – 05/03/07
Outbound Japanese travel edges up in 2006 – 31/01/07
‘Revitalisation’ campaign set to kick off as Hawaii’s Japanese visitor market continues alarming slump – 17/01/07
Japanese outbound market set for sluggish start in 2007 – 15/01/07
“˜Levelling off’ expected for Japanese outbound travel market in 2007 – 04/01/07
