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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 8, 2006

2005 visitor records now official

By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer

A CLOSER LOOK

You can get more detailed numbers by looking at the annual visitor research report at www.hawaii.gov.

Other statistics on the visitor industry can be found in the state Data Book. It's available on the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Web site at www.hawaii.gov/dbedt.

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The state released its final accounting of last year's tourism numbers yesterday and confirmed what most in the industry already knew: 2005 was a record year on many levels.

Hawai'i's tourism industry broke records for expenditures, the number of days tourists stayed and the number of visitor arrivals.

Records also were set for industry employment and state and county tax revenue from tourism, according to the report prepared by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"It's all at a record high," said Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison. "It all tells you how vital the tourism sector is to our state overall."

Hawai'i's visitor industry has dashed prior records each of the past two years, helped by a healthy U.S. economy and increases in North American visitors. The state hosted 7.49 million tourists last year, a 7.2 percent increase from a year earlier. This year gains have started to slow and some in the industry have begun wondering if 2006 will top last year's numbers.

Besides a new high mark for arrivals, other 2005 records include:

  • Direct visitor expenditures climbed to $11.9 billion, or 9.6 percent more than in 2004.

  • Total visitor-related expenditures rose to $13.4 billion, about $1.2 billion more than a year earlier.

  • Visitor days were 68.2 million, an increase of 7.7 percent from the prior year.

  • The number of visitor industry related jobs increased to 211,800. A year earlier it was 183,800.

  • Household income related to the industry was $7.28 billion.

  • State and county tax revenues from the business rose to $1.3 billion from $1.15 billion the year before.

    In addition, the state reported cruise visitors surged by almost 44 percent last year compared to 2004 and that people coming here for meetings, conventions or incentive travel jumped 27 percent.

    Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.