HONOLULU – Total expenditures by visitors who came to Hawai‘i in January 2012 rose 13.9 percent (or $164.1 million) from January 2011, to $1.345 billion, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.  This was the best one-month total on record, surpassing the December 2011 high of $1.298 billion.   

Contributing to the strong increase in January 2012 was higher daily spending ($192 per person, up from $183 per person in January 2011) and a respectable 7.7 percent growth in total arrivals to 643,616 visitors. 

Total arrivals by air grew 7.4 percent from January 2011 to 629,852 visitors with increases from U.S. West (+3.3%), U.S. East (+4.1%), Japan (+3.9%) and Canada (+9%).  On a typical day in January 2012 there were 223,452 visitors (average daily census).  The last time this rate was exceeded was in July 2005.  Arrivals by cruise ships rose 22.7 percent to 13,764 visitors. 

Continuing the momentum of consecutive increases since January 2011, total spending by Canadian visitors in January 2012 rose 22.3 percent to $165.2 million. 

Total expenditures by U.S. West visitors grew 2.6 percent to $364.1 million, despite lower daily spending compared to January 2011 (-2.3% to $146.4 per person).  Similarly, U.S. East visitors’ total expenditures rose 1.5 percent to $346.7 million, while daily spending decreased (-1.5% to $183 per person). 

Growth in arrivals, additional charter air service and significantly higher daily spending (+18% to $340 per person) contributed to a 22.9 percent jump in total Japanese visitor expenditures to $218.5 million in January 2012.  This was the eighth consecutive month of increases since June 2011.   

 Additional Highlights:  

• Most types of accommodations experienced heavier visitor traffic in January 2012, especially hotel properties (+10.4%).  More Canadian (+11%) and U.S. East (+6.3%) visitors stayed in hotels compared to January 2011. Significantly more Japanese visitors stayed in timeshare properties (+17.4%) compared to last January.
• Total arrivals to Maui rose 8.7 percent compared to January 2011, boosted by increases from Canada (+12.7%), U.S. East (+7.1%), U.S. West (+2%) and Japan (+7.1%).