November 2008 sees whopping -20.8% fall in Japanese visitor arrivals to Hawaii – 05/01/09
Published: 05/01/09
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Martin Moodie
US (HAWAII). November visitor numbers to Hawaii continued the 2008 pattern of year-on-year declines, with the key Japanese sector particularly badly affected.
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) revealed that total air visitor expenditures dropped -15.3%, or US$145.2 million, from the same month in 2007, to US$805.3 million.
The decline was driven by a -15.8% decrease in arrivals by air to 485,544 and lower average daily visitor spending (US$180 per person, down from $186 per person in November 2007).
Total arrivals for air and cruise visitors declined -15.9% year-on-year. However the average length of stay by these visitors was slightly longer at 9.23 days, compared to 8.87 days last November.
Among the top four visitor markets, air arrivals from the US West dropped -18% while US East arrivals were down -14.4% compared to November 2007. Japanese arrivals slumped -20.3% while arrivals by air from Canada declined -7.1%.
However, those Japanese who did visit Hawaii stayed longer (+4.7% on average), and spent more per day (+12.1%) and per trip (17.4%).
"Hawaii and many other visitor destinations worldwide continue to be severely impacted by the current national and global economic conditions," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.
"The loss of the two Hawaii home-ported cruise ships continued to impact visitor arrivals on all islands in November. 50.2% of Hawaii Island's, 45.9% of Kaua‘i's, 32.4% of Maui's and 20.6% of Oahu's decline in arrivals were due to decreased cruise visitor counts."
For the first 11 months of 2008 total arrivals by air and cruise decreased by -10.2% year-on-year to 6,243,080.
Japanese visitor numbers declined by -10% in that period to 1,061,675.
MORE STORIES ON HAWAII TOURISM
Japanese tourism decline to Hawaii eases in October as Yen makes sharp gains against the US Dollar – 28/11/08
Hawaii sees -19.3% drop in September arrivals; Japanese visitors are down by -19.8% – 06/11/08
Japanese visitor arrivals to Hawaii post another double-digit fall in August as tourism slump deepens – 28/09/08
Visitor spending falls -14.9% in Hawaii as arrivals slump; Japanese market down further – 08/09/08
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