Hawaii Island a saw a big boost in visitor spending last year as industry experts reported a record-setting year for tourism statewide in 2016.
Hawaii Island a saw a big boost in visitor spending last year as industry experts reported a record-setting year for tourism statewide in 2016.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, 1,550,046 people visited the island last year, a 2.3 percent increase from 2015. On top of that, visitor spending on the island increased by 11.8 percent — the most growth in the state — to $2.1 billion.
Statewide, visitor spending increased 4.2 percent to $15.6 billion, an all-time high.
There were 8,941,394 visitors to Hawaii in 2016, a 3 percent increase.
The tourism industry statewide saw the biggest year-to-year increase in visitors from South Korea (up 27 percent), Taiwan (up 5 percent), U.S. West (up 4.3 percent) and U.S. East (3.7 percent).
Despite overall growth, Hawaii saw a drop in visitation from Canada (down 6.5 percent), Latin America (down 6.1 percent), Australia (down 2.3 percent), China (down 2 percent) and Europe (down 1.6 percent).
Arrivals from Japan grew by a mere 0.4 percent statewide. Visitor spending, though, from that country increased by 2.3 percent.