Hawai‘i Tourism Oceania (HTO) has revealed mixed Australian visitor results for the US island destination in 2019.
In an update to local industry partners last week in Sydney, HTO’s country manager for Australia, Giselle Radulovic, said there were 288,464 Australian visitors to Hawaii last year – a year-on-year decline of 11.3 per cent.
However, Radulovic noted the repeat visitation rate increased two per cent to 53.3 per cent in 2019.
“Hawaii has always had great return visitation from Australian travellers, and in 2019 we saw over 150,000 Australians choosing to return for a holiday,” she said.
“This result reflects Hawai‘i Tourism Oceania’s strategy to portray that every holiday in the Hawaiian Islands can be different from the last.”
In December 2019, Aussie travellers had maintained a consistent average length of stay of 9.48 days, with the largest demographics being families and multi-generational family groups, followed by couples.
“Australians stay a long time in Hawaii – between nine and 10 days – and are the third-highest spending market after Chinese and Korean visitors,” Radulovic said.
“In 2019, spending increased for food and beverage, entertainment and recreation, showing that Australians are focused on learning and discovery, as well as relaxing and spending time with family and friends.”
Image: iStock/Art Wager
