George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), issued the following statement regarding Hawaiis visitor statistics results for November 2017.
“Strong travel demand from North America, Asia and Oceania translated into an excellent month for the state’s tourism industry in November. Air seat capacity rose 5 percent, the largest monthly increase thus far in 2017, and visitor arrivals grew 7.3 percent, which, except for April at 7.5 percent, was also the highest rate of growth for the year.
“Visitor spending of $1.29 billion in November pushed the state’s total through 11 months to $15.15 billion, which exceeds every full-year total up to 2016. State tax revenue generated by the tourism industry has risen to $1.77 billion, which is $109.5 million more than a year ago at this time.
“With December being historically a peak month for travel to Hawaii, the state’s tourism industry is poised to surpass all annual records for visitor spending, generated state tax revenue and visitor arrivals when the year-end statistics for 2017 are issued the end of January.
“We are in the closing days of what has been an extraordinary year for Hawaii’s tourism industry and continued success is promising as we begin a new year. Within the last two weeks, four carriers – Virgin America, Scoot, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines – have either launched new routes or significantly expanded existing service to Hawaii. In the next few months, Hawaiian Airlines will be launching daily service on four routes between the mainland and neighbor islands.
“Mahalo to all of tourism’s stakeholders for contributing to the success of Hawaiis leading industry. From Governor Ige and our elected officials at the State Capitol to the tourism professionals on the front lines who share their aloha daily with our visitors, everyone has a valuable role in helping tourism to prosper for the benefit of residents and families statewide.”
