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Japanese visitors
cut spending
in 1999

They topped U.S.
tourists by $91 a day, a
DBEDT report shows

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By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Japanese visitors to the islands cut their daily spending 11.8 percent last year, parting with an average of $227.35 per person per day compared to $257.81 in 1998, according to revised figures from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

The figures confirm tourism industry reports that today's savvy Japanese travelers, the majority of whom have been to the islands at least once before, are careful about what they spend on accommodation, meals, transportation and other items while they are in Hawaii.

But the DBEDT report also shows that the Japanese still heavily outspend Americans on a daily basis. Travelers from the U.S. West spent an average of $135.68 per person per day in 1999, up 2.4 percent from $132.45 in 1998.

They were outspent by visitors from the U.S. East, many of whom were on their first visit and more likely than repeaters to try out tourist attractions and other islands.

Travelers from the eastern states spent an average of $167.01 a day in 1999, a slight slip of 0.1 percent from $167.22 in 1998.

DBEDT said it used some new sources of information and improved its research methodology, so the figures differ from those in a preliminary report issued in July.

The new figures show that total visitor spending in the islands came to $10.28 billion in 1999, a decline of 0.3 percent or about $30 million from $10.31 billion in 1998. The preliminary figures issued in July had shown a decline of about $300 million.

"These data reveal why tax receipts did not increase in calendar 1999 as much as we might have expected from the raw visitor arrival data," said Seiji Naya, DBEDT director.

The state's chief economist, Pearl Imada Iboshi, said that in the future the final numbers should be closer to the preliminary figures than they were this time.

New information used in the latest calculation included new reports from the Customs and Immigration departments that improved the counts of visitors and returning residents coming into the islands from foreign points. DBEDT said it also adjusted the expenditure numbers to account for visitors who do not stay in hotels.