Officials say higher daily spending and a 6.1 percent growth in total arrivals are contributing factors.
Among Hawaii’s top visitor markets, arrivals by air from the U.S. West increased 3.1 percent from Sept. 2011 to 232,076 visitors, the 11th consecutive month of growth.
Total U.S. West visitor expenditures rose 13.2 percent to $344.3 million. After 12 months of increases, U.S. East arrivals fell 1.9 percent to 109,922 visitors in September 2012.
Despite this decline, higher daily spending boosted U.S. East total visitor expenditures (+6.7%) to $232.8 million.
Japanese arrivals grew nine percent to 133,958 visitors in Sept. 2012. A small drop in daily spending (-2% to $299 per person) was offset by a longer length of stay (6.33 days from 6.03 days). The net result was a 12.2 percent increase in total visitor spending to $253.5 million.
Canadian arrivals totaled 19,239 visitors, down 2.2 percent compared to September 2011, while total visitor expenditures were similar to last September at $36.5 million.
There was strong growth in arrivals (+19.7% at 88,168 visitors) and total spending (+40.4% to $214.8 million) by visitors from All Other developing markets.
Visitor arrivals by cruise ships climbed 52.5 percent (to 11,656 visitors) from Sept. 2011.
Click HERE for the HTA’s full report.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
