Visitors spent a total of $1.1 billion in the Hawaiian Islands in October, an increase of 15.6% compared with the same month last year.
“Visitors in October 2011 spent $20 more per person, per day than last October,” Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism authority, said in a statement. “On Oahu alone, visitor spending reached $639 million, up an impressive 36% over October 2010, and has increased every month in 2011.”
Visitor arrivals to the state during October remained essentially unchanged, however, inching up just two-tenths of a percent year over year, to a total of 565,848 for the month, according to preliminary figures released by the HTA Nov. 29.
“We are also pleased with continued growth from our international markets, including the second positive month of arrivals from Japan since the devastating earthquake,” McCartney said. “New and additional airlift through 2012 also demonstrates that demand for travel to the Hawaiian Islands remains high and is a good indicator of momentum for the visitor industry in the coming year.”
Japanese arrivals were up less than 1% year over year in both September and October.
Among Hawaii’s other major markets, visitor totals from the U.S. West dropped 5.1% in October, while those from the U.S. East grew by 1%. Arrivals from Canada jumped 10.1% for the month.
More than 44,000 visitors traveled to Hawaii for meetings, conventions and incentive trips in October, an increase of 5.1% over the same period in 2010. The number of visitors who came to the state to get married also grew, climbing 7.7% year over year, to 12,894. Those numbers were bolstered dramatically by a 53% surge from the Japanese destination-wedding market.
Year to date through October, more than 6 million visitors have traveled to Hawaii, climbing 2.6% over the same period in 2010. Visitor expenditures across the state jumped 14.8% during the first 10 months of this year, to a total of $10.3 billion.
Annual visitor spending peaked at $12.8 billion in 2007, while Hawaii set a record for annual arrivals in 2006 with a total 7.63 million visitors.