Visitor satisfaction level increases
Visitors to Hawaii were more satisfied with the trips that they took during the first quarter of 2007 than during the same period in 2005 and 2006, according to a new state survey.
The 2007 First Quarter Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Report, released yesterday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, found satisfaction levels among visitors from the mainland and Europe were their highest in two years.
However, Japanese visitors gave Hawaii their lowest satisfaction ratings since 2005.
As many as 65.9 percent of visitors to Hawaii from the U.S. West in the first quarter said that they were satisfied with their trip to Hawaii, which represented a 12.7 percentage point increase from the same period in 2006. Overall, visitors from the U.S. West, Hawaii's top market tended to rate the islands lower than their U.S. East counterparts.
From January to March of 2007, 71.9 percent of U.S. East visitors said that they were satisfied with the experience as compared to 62.2 percent a year ago.
As many as 72.2 percent of Canadian visitors were satisfied with their trip to Hawaii, a 2.4 percentage point rise from the same quarter in 2006.
Hawaii's European visitor market said that 70.2 percent of them were satisfied by their visit to Hawaii as compared to 64 percent in 2006.
However, only 47.9 percent of visitors from the steadily declining Japan market said that they were satisfied with their first quarter visit to Hawaii. The drop in Japan visitor satisfaction levels represented a 2.4 percentage point decline from the year ago quarter.
In the first quarter of 2007, U.S. visitors' perceptions of Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai improved; although their perception of Maui declined.
During this same time period, Japanese visitors preferred Oahu but rated it only slightly higher than the Big Island and Kauai. Advocacy for Maui was low in the first quarter, but improved from the prior year.
The full 2007 Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Report is available at www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/vsat.