While the rest of the state, and particularly O‘ahu, saw record jumps in visitors for May, Kaua‘i saw the least growth, at 1.8 percent, according to state figures released Tuesday. Only 82,064 people visited Kaua‘i in May, slightly up from
While the rest of the state, and particularly O‘ahu, saw record jumps in visitors for May, Kaua‘i saw the least growth, at 1.8 percent, according to state figures released Tuesday.
Only 82,064 people visited Kaua‘i in May, slightly up from last year.
According to Marsha Wienert, the governor’s tourism liaison, people secured vacation plans earlier this year, pushing the numbers up earlier in the year, and that there are still many people considering what to do with coming vacation time.
During the fall, the state has to rely more heavily on niche markets, such as the growing wedding and honeymoon business, Wienert said.
“There’s a saying in tourism that winter and summer tide you over for spring and fall,” she said. “Some indicators are saying it may slow down for fall.”
O‘ahu, which had the largest share of Japanese visitors, had the strongest tourism growth in May, with a 20.5-percent rise in visitor arrivals. The Big Island had a 6.7-percent increase in arrivals, Maui County had a 2.8-percent lift, and Kaua‘i arrivals rose by 1.8 percent
For the year-to-date from January through May, however, the numbers for Kaua‘i looked better. Of the 2.7-million visitors to the islands so far this year, Kaua‘i got 403,891.
Nearly 90 percent of visitors to Kaua‘i (350,000) came from the U.S. Mainland, with 6,655 coming from Canada, another 2,114 coming from Japan, and the remainder coming from other international origins.
Visitors coming to Kaua‘i specifically, however, had a nice jump, 21.4 percent over this time last year, with just over 80,000 choosing to bypass other islands to come to Kaua‘i specifically.
Canadian and Japanese visitors coming specifically to Kaua‘i doubled over this time last year, indicating that the trend that started early this year for these groups has not faltered.
All visitors spent an average of 7.56 days here, second only to Maui’s 8.03.
According to tourism experts here, that length of stay can be directly attributed to Kaua‘i’s number of timeshare units, which make up nearly 30 percent of visitor accommodations here.
Spending is, perhaps, the most telling statistic for visitor health, and Kaua‘i saw $100.4 million spent here in May, $449.9 million spent for the year to date.
In all, 549,865 visitors came to the state in May and spent $789.1 million, bringing total spending in the first five months of this year to more than $4 billion.
According to state visitor-arrival records for May, U.S. West visitors were the highest overall spenders, contributing $297.3 million to the state’s economy. U.S. East visitors, though fewer in number than U.S. West visitors, spent nearly the same amount, contributing $226.5 million to the economy.
U.S. East tourists are desirable because they are primarily first-time visitors who tend to stay longer and spend more, Wienert said, adding that strong U.S. East arrivals in May helped the state to increase the number of first-time visitors by 2 percent.
Air seats available to Lihu‘e jumped 10 percent over last year, with 28,722 seats available by air last month, compared to 46,000 for Kona and 130,000 for Maui.
Arrivals from Japan, which comprised more than 70 percent of all international visitors for the state, soared 54.3 percent, according to figures from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
“Our daily air-passenger counts show that this year’s Golden Week (Japan’s annual holidays), which ran from April 26 through May 5, brought in 51,312 passengers on flights from Japan, more than double the 25,309 passengers who came during Golden Week last year,” Wienert said.
Compared with May 2003, tourist arrivals last month were up 20.5 percent on O‘ahu, 1.8 percent on Kaua‘i, 3 percent on Maui and 6.7 percent on the Big Island, while the visitor count was off 24 percent on Moloka‘i and 1.5 percent on Lana‘i.
In all, Hawai‘i welcomed 2.7 million visitors over the first five months of 2004, a 9 percent increase over 2.5 million visitors during the same period last year.
Newlyweds helped boost the year-to-date figure. More than 159,000 visitors honeymooned in the islands, up 5.8 percent, while 58,000 couples got married in Hawai‘i, an increase of 26.1 percent, department officials said.
Phil Hayworth, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or mailto:phayworth@pulitzer.net.
