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An impotent Yen was the biggest disincentive to visit Hawaii | |
US. Japanese visitors to Hawaii, so crucial to the travel retail sector, fell by an alarming -9.4% in 2006, according to new figures from the the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT).
Domestic arrivals increased +2.6% to a new record of 5,450,697 visitors while international arrivals declined -6.6%. Among those numbers, visitors from Canada (+9.9%) and the US West (+4.2%) increased but arrivals from the US East (-0.6%) and Japan (down to 1,374,454) were lower than in 2005.
Boosted by increased daily visitor spending, total visitor expenditures reached US$12 billion, an increase of +2.9% compared to 2005, setting a new record for visitor spending. Increases were recorded from the US West, US East and Canadian visitor markets.
But the Japanese number is the one that matters most in travel retail and that makes less satisfactory reading. Total visitor spending by Japanese visitors declined -6.5% year-on-year. In December alone, Japanese spending plummeted by an alarming -20.6% with Canadian spend also off sharply (-9.6%).
A major factor in the downturn was the Yen’s softness against the US Dollar. In recent weeks the Yen has hit 20-year lows against major currencies – it slumped to Â¥158.60 to the Euro in late January and Â¥122.19 against the US Dollar (at press time it stood at Â¥120.47 to the greenback).
Other factors were a sharp reduction in flights between Japan and Hawaii, heavy pressure from other destinations (notably China) and a shortage of hotel rooms due to major renovation projects.
Hawaii Tourism Japan will attempt to arrest the decline in Japanese tourism by embarking from April on a US$8 million annual plan that focuses on “˜revitalisation’. Judging by the latest numbers, that campaign cannot start soon enough.
MORE STORIES ON HAWAII’S TOURISM SECTOR
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
