by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:15 AM ET, Fri June 1, 2018
The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) announced Thursday that visitors to the islands spent a total of $1.42 billion in April 2018, an increase of 13.4 percent when compared to the same period last year.
The HTA reported visitor spending in April increased from Hawaii's four largest visitor markets, including U.S. West, an 11.7 jump to $547.8 million, U.S. East, a four percent jump to $310.5 million, Japan with a 7.1 percent jump to $155.9 million and Canada with a 10 percent jump to $99.4 million.
In addition, all other international markets increased 34.7 percent to $297.6 million spent in April versus last year. Total visitor arrivals also rose 6.6 percent to 803,005 visitors in April, supported by growth in arrivals from both airlines and cruise ships.
The average daily spending for visitors to the state rose to $210 per person, an increase of 3.6 percent, through the first four months of 2018. Meetings, conventions and incentives (MCI) in April also jumped to 52,982 visitors.
HTA CEO George D. Szigeti issued a formal statement on Hawaii's visitor statistics results:
"Hawaii tourism continued to enjoy the benefits of increased air seat capacity and strong travel demand during the shoulder month of April, as visitor spending grew by 13.4 percent to $1.42 billion. Hawaii's key visitor markets in the mainland U.S., Japan, and Canada all produced admirable results, but it was the combined performance of the other international markets, with a 34.7 percent increase in visitor spending, that helped solidify April's success."
"Hawaii's four island counties each generated excellent visitor spending totals in April, with Oahu leading the way with an increase of 15.9 percent. It was especially heartening to see Kauai produce such strong results after enduring the record-setting rainfall and destructive flooding that shut down the north shore beyond Wainiha, including the popular Haena State Park and Kalalau Trail."
"April's visitor spending elevated the tax revenue that tourism has generated for the State of Hawaii so far in 2018 to $728.5 million, which is an increase of 10.8 percent, or $71.3 million more than last year."
"A third of the year is now in the books and the tourism industry has turned in strong results. The credit is shared by the thousands of tourism professionals who are committed to excellence in service and making a vacation in the Hawaiian Islands a memorable event for our visitors. On behalf of the HTA, we extend our warmest mahalo to all of those employed in our state's largest and leading industry for their hard work and dedication to sharing the aloha spirit every day."
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