Maui scores an April trifecta of visitor numbers
HTA visitor tallies show increases in tourists, spending and stay lengths
Maui visitor arrivals and spending rose in April from a year ago, fueled by more visitor days, higher daily spending and increases in tourists from Canada, the Mainland and Japan.
The higher Maui numbers accompanied a statewide increase in visitors and spending last month, with 752,964 visitors spending $1.3 billion for increases of 7.5 percent and 9 percent, respectively, over April 2016.
The numbers were included in preliminary statistics released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“April was a better month than expected, with the Easter holiday and Golden Week in Japan contributing to increased travel demand,” said George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, in a news release.
Golden Week is a string of four holidays from April 29 to May 5.
In Maui County, the number of visitor arrivals increased 6.7 percent to 229,708 in April compared to the same month last year. In the first four months of the year, the county had 901,379 visitor arrivals, up 2.4 percent from 880,630 during the same period last year.
The bulk of the visitors were to Maui, which logged 226,511 arrivals in April for a 7 percent increase over April 2016. The number of visitors in the first four months of the year is up by 2.6 percent, with 886,859 this year compared with 864,292 for the same period last year.
Visitors increased by 17.2 percent from Canada, 8 percent from the U.S. West, 6.6 percent from the U.S. East and 4.2 percent from Japan, according to the preliminary statistics.
On both Molokai and Lanai, visitor arrivals decreased in April. There were 3,852 arrivals on Molokai for a 12.5 percent drop from 4,403 in April 2016. On Lanai, the 5,508 visitor arrivals marked an 8.8 percent drop from 6,040 arrivals in April 2016.
For the first four months of the year, the 19,579 visitor arrivals on Molokai amounted to a 9.7 percent decrease from the same period last year. On Lanai, visitor arrivals increased by 3.2 percent to 20,657 in the first four months over last year.
Total Maui visitor expenditures in April increased by 11.2 percent to $371.2 million, compared with $333.9 million in April 2016. Visitors spent nearly $1.7 billion on Maui in the first four months of the year, up 4.5 percent from nearly $1.6 billion at the same time last year.
Total visitor expenditures increased on Molokai by 19 percent to $2.3 million and decreased on Lanai by 9.4 percent to $7.4 million in April over last year. For both Molokai and Lanai, total expenditures through April increased — by 41.3 percent on Molokai and 43.3 percent on Lanai — compared with the same period last year.
The average length of stay on Maui was slightly higher, increasing by 1.4 percent to 7.81 in April over last year. But with more tourists, total visitor days increased by 8.6 percent last month over the year before.
Daily spending by Maui visitors increased 2.4 percent to $210 a person in April, compared with $205 in the same month last year.
Statewide in the first four months of the year, visitor spending increased by 10 percent to $5.6 billion, with a 4.2 percent increase in visitor arrivals and 5.6 percent increase in daily spending compared to the same period last year.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.