| Hawaii Business is Booming with 7 Million Visitors in 2005 - 12/08/2005
With three more weeks to go in 2005, arrivals by air have already passed the 7 million mark, according to airport counts by the state. 2005 Visitor Count Exceeds 7 Million Estimated daily arrivals by air, made by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, had by Thursday reached 7,828,194. DBEDT says total arrivals include returning locals, who usually make up roughly 15 percent of the total. Thus, for predictions of a 7 million visitor year to be on the mark, total arrivals should come in around 8.2 million or better. That depends on visitor traffic over the next three weeks, which include the Honolulu Marathon, Christmas and the beginning of the New Year's travel period. About 20,000 arrivals per day would yield 480,000 more arrivals between now and the end of the year. The marathon and New Year's bring spikes in visitor traffic. December arrivals so far have hit 120,030, up 4.4 percent from 114,999 at the same point last year. Domestic arrivals topped 60,000 to Honolulu on Thursday, up 1.6 percent from last year, and were already over 20,000 to Maui, up 17.3 percent, while Kauai and the Big Island were closer to 5,000, representing a 21.1 percent improvement for Kauai and a 4.7 percent fallback for the Big Island (offset by direct Japan flights to Kona this year.) International arrivals so far this month have hit 36,180, up 3.5 percent. More than 30,000 Japanese have flown to Hawaii so far this month, up 1.6 percent, reflecting Honolulu Marathon traffic.
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