More international and domestic visitors travelled to Hawaii in the month of April compared to the same period last year, but they spent less, according to the monthly Hawaii Visitor Statistics report released Thursday by Hawaii Tourism Authority. The April figures continue the trend of decreased visitor spending and increased visitor arrivals that persisted through the first quarter of 2019.
The report says that a 6.6 percent increase in visitor arrivals in April year-over-year, for a total of 856,250 visitors. On any given day in April, there were nearly 228,000 visitors in Hawaii, up 3.4 percent year-over-year.
The tourism increase reflects growth in arrivals by both air service and cruise ships. The air service arrivals grew by nearly 6 percent in April and accounted for the majority of visitor arrivals, but cruise ship arrivals also saw significant growth last month, with arrivals up 46 percent.
The total visitor spending in April, however, was down 6.2 percent year-over-year to $1.33 billion. Spending among visitors from the U.S. West and Japan increased slightly, but gains were offset by dips from the U.S. East (down 8 percent) Canada (down 2 percent) and all other international markets (down 23 percent). Average daily visitor spending statewide dropped more than 9 percent to $188 per person, reflecting dips from all major source markets except Japan, which remained flat.
Among the four main counties, Oahu saw growth in visitor arrivals (up nearly 9 percent to more than 494,000) in April year-over-year, but a slight dip in visitor spending (down 1.2 percent to nearly $627 million). Maui also had growth in arrivals (up 5 percent to more than 249,000) and a decrease in spending (down 4.6 percent to $394 million).
Hawaii Island and Kauai both experienced drops in visitor arrivals and visitor spending. The number of visitors to Hawaii Island fell 14 percent to nearly 131,500, while spending fell more than 20 percent to nearly $155 million. Kauai visitor arrivals dropped nearly 5 percent to 106,000, while spending fell nearly 15 percent to $134 million.
Tags: Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, hawaii, Tourism
