Arrivals on track for strong start to 2012

The Hawaii visitor spending momentum of 2011 continued into January 2012 for a strong start to the New Year. Visitor spending for January 2012 reached US$1.35 billion, up 13.9% over January 2011. This makes it the highest January on record for expenditures. The gains in expenditures were seen across the main islands and in each of the major market areas. This is a result of arrivals growing by 7.7%. A pent-up demand for travel to the Hawaiian Islands, increases in airlift and a large delegation of convention attendees were all contributing factors to the increases of January. Kaua’i led the way, with a jump in visitor arrivals of 10% over 2011, due to increased direct services and a new charter flight from China. (http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org)