The beginning of the year was great for people visiting the islands, the Hawaii Tourism Authority reported.
In the first half of the year 4.1 million people came to the islands, staying an average of 9.21 days.
That brought in a record $7.6 billion, a 3.5 percent increase over last year. Of that $806.92 million went to the state tax revenue.
“With more than 1,053 flights per week to the Hawaiian Islands, providing both our visitors and residents with the ability to travel to and from the state, airlift remains the key to our industry’s success. We continue to work with our partners to grow and maintain airlift, and through our collaborative efforts, project reaching a record 11.9 million total air seats to Hawaii by the end of the year,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, in a press release.
Included was a 21.1 percent increase in scheduled seats to Kona International Airport, raising seats to 415,844, paired with a 0.4 percent drop in Hilo to 19,678.
The group said the flat income expenditure came, despite an increase in visitors, because of a reduction in per-person spending.
The groups of people coming in varied.
Americans dominated the numbers coming in, with 2.87 million visitors, an increase of 5.8 percent. The single biggest increase came from people on vacation unrelated to weddings, with 2.25 million people arriving. That was 6.2 percent higher than last year.
Japan was the foreign nation to send the single largest number of people, totalling 703,297 in the first six months. That is a 2.1 percent drop. Most went to Oahu only, a total of 594,343 people. There was a 48.9 percent increase in the number of people coming for meetings, conventions or incentives.
Canadians came as well, a total of 305,431 coming in the first six months. This was a 1.2 percent drop. The number of people going to Lanai only jumped 68.1 percent from 108 to 181.
A total of 12,677 people came from Korea in June, down 10.5 percent from the same time last year, a trend continued into June at 5.6 percent. They spent $287 a day, up from $272 this time last year.
“Spending on lodging, shopping, and food and beverage increased but entertainment and recreation expenses were down,” the group wrote.
Taiwanese arrivals were down 5.6 percent to 1,713 people in June, against the numbers last year. The first half of the year saw a 31.2 percent drop to 7,769.
Five countries in Europe are tracked together, with 10,977 visitors, up 17.1 percent from June 2014. The first half of the year as a whole was largely flat. The five are the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Latin America is also grouped, with Mexico, Brazil and Argentina collectively sending 1,937 visitors, an increase of 25.1 percent. That is against a 2.1 percent drop for the entire first half of the year to 13,356.