State tourism numbers released

Associated Press

More men than women visited Hawai'i from the western United States last year, but more women than men visited from Japan — and they spent a lot more money, according to state tourism figures released yesterday.

The Waikiki Beach area and other tourist attractions saw visitors from the western United States, one of Hawai'i's key markets, spend an average of $160 dollars per day in Hawai'i in 2000 and stay an average of 9.86 days. Advertiser library photo • June 10, 2001

Meanwhile, Japanese visitors spent nearly three times more per day shopping than visitors from the Mainland and tended to be younger. Their average daily spending, including lodging, was $237, the highest of all groups.

These are just some of the statistics in the 2000 annual Visitor Research Report released yesterday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The report provides detailed comparative analysis of 1999 and 2000 information on domestic and international visitor characteristics by market area, islands visited, month of visit and visitor expenditures, the department said.

Other findings are:

• Most visitors from the Mainland are in their 40s and 50s, while the largest age group for Japanese visitors is people in their 20s. Canadian visitors tend to be older than those from the Mainland.
• While 76 percent of visitors from the western United States had been to Hawai'i before, more than 47 percent of those from the eastern United States were first-time visitors.
• Meeting and convention travel was the fastest growing segment in Hawai'i's visitor industry for 2000, up 18.6 percent over the year before. Close to 79 percent of all conference visitors arrived from the Mainland, while 21 percent came from foreign countries.
• Meeting and convention travel by Japanese visitors rose 23.2 percent from 1999 to 2000, but the number of honeymooners, 648,092, was 2.1 percent lower than in 1999.
• Spending by visitors from the western United States climbed 13.6 percent in 2000 to $3.5 billion, or 31.7 percent of total spending. Spending by eastern U.S. visitors totaled $3 billion, or 27.4 percent of the total. Japanese spending was up 0.5 percent to $2.4 billion, or 21.7 percent of the total. The three markets accounted for 80.8 percent of the total $10.9 billion spent in 2000, second only to the $11.1 billion spent in 1995.

Highlights by market area:

The average length of stay for western U.S. visitors increased to 9.86 days from 9.71 days in 1999. Daily spending per person rose 6.2 percent to $144 per day but continued to rank second lowest among all the major market areas.

• Total spending by eastern U.S. visitors jumped 9.6 percent to $3 billion, fueled by 7 percent arrival increase, a stable length of stay of 10.32 days and a relatively high per person spending of $170 a day.

The total visitor days by Japanese tourists fell 2.7 percent in 2000 due to fewer visitors and a shorter length of stay. Spending per day, however, climbed 3.3 percent to $235 to lead all markets, pushing total spending in Hawai'i to $2.4 billion.

Total spending by Canadian visitors fell 5.9 percent to $451.5 million. It resulted from an 8.1 percent drop in visitor days due to a slight decline in the number of visitors and a drop in the length of stay, although it remained the longest of all markets at 12.2 days. Average spending by Canadians rose 2.4 percent to $147 a day, the third lowest among all markets.

Visitors from Europe, 82 percent from Germany and the United Kingdom, continue to be the tightest spenders at $132 a day, a 2.4 percent decline in 2000.

• The visitor days by European tourists fell 8.8 percent due to fewer arrivals although the length of stay remained stable at just less than 12 days, the second highest of all markets.
• The Oceania visitors, 76 percent of them from Australia, declined in number and had shorter stays in 2000, resulting in a 27.6 percent drop in spending. Average individual spending remained relatively high at $171.
• The Asia market besides Japan saw a 17.7 percent growth, resulting in a 10.5 percent increase in total spending by visitors who averaged $195 per day, the second highest among all visitor groups and up 1.1 percent from the year before. Korea led the group with 38.6 percent of the visitors, followed by China with 24 percent and Taiwan with 23.5 percent.
• Latin America had 18,150 visitors to Hawai'i in 2000, with 44.6 percent from Brazil, 37.7 percent from Mexico and 17.7 percent from Argentina. Nearly 65 percentre first-time visitors.