Hawaii’s total visitor spending for the first half of 2014 rose 2.5% over the same period last year. Growing to US$7.4 billion, the boost was the result of a 2.3% increase in average daily spending ($196 per person). While there was an increase in daily spending, total visitor arrivals were similar to the first half of 2013, with a 0.1% decline. Canadian visitation rose 3.2% for the first half of 2014.

Oahu saw the greatest increase in visitor arrivals of all the Hawaiian Islands for the first half of 2014 with a 1.7% increase, while Hawaii Island and Kauai saw decreases in visitor arrivals of 2.8% and 1.5% respectively. A higher daily spending contributed to positive growth in visitor expenditures on Maui (9.9% to $2.1 billion), Hawaii Island (7.3% to $986.1 million) and Kauai (5.7% to $747.9 million) compared to the first half of 2013. While Oahu saw an increase in visitor arrivals over the first half of this year, visitor expenditures were down 2.8%.

Canadian visitation did contribute to Hawaii’s positive growth for the first half of 2014 with a 3.2% increase in arrivals, but expenditures fell 8% to $31 million during the month of June (low season for Canada) with a drop in visitors of 4.6% and a drop in daily spending of 7.8%.