Visitors spent $12.58 billion across the Aloha State in 2011, a surge of 15.6% over the year prior and the second-largest sum in Hawaii’s history.
According to preliminary statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Jan. 30, visitor arrivals also grew substantially last year, climbing 3.8% to nearly 7.3 million visitors.
“We thought with the disasters in Japan we would end up a lot lower,” said Mike McCartney, the HTA’s president and CEO, noting that his organization shifted its marketing approach following last March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
“We launched a strategic tourism recovery plan and worked hard with the industry to try and increase lift from places like Korea, Oceania, and Canada,” he said. “We’re pleased with where we came out because we thought the year was going to be a lot tougher than what it actually yielded.”
Arrivals from Japan finished the year down 5%, but visitor totals from Oceania jumped 31.7% in 2011 and those from other Asian nations were up over 20% while Canadian arrivals grew by nearly 18%.
The revised HTA approach appears to have paid its largest dividends in December when visitors set a new one-month spending record of just under $1.3 billion, an increase of more than $220 million over the same month in 2010. Arrivals also increased significantly in December, growing 7.8% year over year while total visitor days were up nearly 10%.
“The demand for Hawaii is very strong, and that’s really because of our people, place and culture,” McCartney said.
He added that, in December, “the other thing helping was the currency-exchange rate. Hawaii is perfectly positioned to take advantage of that, so we’ve been successful in working with the airlines to add seats and drive demand with our marketing partners around the world.”
Hawaii also saw an increase in travelers from the U.S. mainland. Visitors from the U.S. West were up 2.4% in 2011, while those from the U.S. East increased 2%. Business from the meetings, conferences and incentives market was another bright spot, jumping 11% year over year.
“We’re going to have to work hard in 2012 on the meetings, incentive, and groups market,” McCartney cautioned. “We had a really good year in 2011, but we need to maintain momentum in that area. …I think that’s a market across the U.S. that is a little soft, and that’s a very important component to us, and we will be working extra hard there.”
To view the HTA’s 2011 visitor figures, visit
www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research-reports/research/visitor-highlights/.