Visitors to Kaua‘i saw the greatest increase of all the neighbor islands in July, proving once again that Kaua‘i rules the summer months. There were 106,712 visitors to Kaua‘i in July, an increase of 9.5 percent over the same month
Visitors to Kaua‘i saw the greatest increase of all the neighbor islands in July, proving once again that Kaua‘i rules the summer months.
There were 106,712 visitors to Kaua‘i in July, an increase of 9.5 percent over the same month last year, and only slightly behind Oahu, which saw 441,399 visitors, or a 13.4 percent increase.
Collectively, it was the best July in decades, say industry professionals. “We are so pleased to see the recent DBEDT numbers reflect our anticipation of a great July in the U.S. West, U.S. East and Japan markets,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitor’s Bureau. Both domestic and international visitors numbers increased, 9 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively. In fact, so far this year, visitors to Kaua‘i account for one-fifth of the total travelers to Hawaii.
July’s jump can be attributed to visitors from the U.S. East, who came here in droves, pumping their numbers up 15.9 percent to 39,695. Visitors from the U.S. West, however, continue to provide the bread and butter of Kaua‘i’s visitor diet. Some 53,831 came to Kaua‘i in July, a jump of 4.5 percent.
Fewer Japanese came to Kaua‘i in July, 3,288, down 4 percent, but their number of days on Kaua‘i improved 14 percent over last July. Canadians were the U.S. East visitors come on strong weak point for Kaua‘i. Only 1,171 came this July, down 30.8 percent, and the number of days they spent here declined 12.2 percent. “The Canadian market continues to be impacted by the lack of air seats and direct flights from Canada to Kaua‘i,” Kanoho said. All little more than half of Kaua‘i’s visitors stopped off at Oahu in July and that holds true for the whole year to date, with just over 260,000 visitors coming directly to Kaua‘i. Another 340,000 stopped off before traveling here. “The increase in direct flights (from the Mainland) during summer have led to double digit increases for our Kaua‘i only numbers,” Kanoho said. Statewide, the total number of seats available this year is up 8.2 percent to 5.5 million.
Visitors have spent $559 million on Kaua‘i so far this year, and $103 million of that happened in July. Bottom line:
Kaua‘i’s visitor industry appears to be booming, and not just in number of visitors but in that allimportant sector of spending.
The average person spent $141.5 per day on Kaua‘i in July, down slightly from July of last year. But the average spent so far per person is 9.3 percent higher so far this year, at $157.1.
Visitor expenditures rose 8.9 percent statewide to $1 billion in July.
