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Kauai Visitor Demographics

Kauai Visitor Demographics

Who will you meet on your visit to Kauai? It’s likely you’ll meet more than a few people from California. Here are a few statistics from a January 2016 monthly report by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

In January 2016, 95,000 people visited Kauai, and about 50,000 of those people visited Kauai only (not visiting other Hawaii islands). Of the 95,000 visitors, 80,000 were domestic and 15,000 were international.

About half of Kauai visitors planned to stay in hotels (46,000), 22,000 planned to stay in condos, 17,000 planned to stay in timeshares, 7,000 planned to stay with friends and relatives, 2,000 planned to stay in bed and breakfasts, 1,700 planned to stay at camp sites/beaches and 1,200 planned to stay in hostels. Approximately 7,500 people visit Kauai each month on cruise ships.

Kauai has a high number of returning visitors. Only 26.3 percent were first time visitors, with a whopping 73.7 percent returning visitors (with an average of 5.8 trips under their belts). Kauai indeed has a magical hold on people.

The vast majority of visitors to Kauai (80,000) visit for pleasure/vacation. Honeymoons and getting married are another popular reason for visiting Kauai. Almost 4,000 people visit Kauai each month with the purpose of honeymooning or getting married. Other popular reasons for visiting Kauai include conventions/corporate meetings (7,000), visiting friends and relatives (6,500) and government/military (700).

Most people who visit Kauai plan their own trip. Only 6,000 visit Kauai with a group trip. Almost 19,000 opt for a package trip while 76,000 visit with no package.

The average age of a visiting party head is 52 years old, with an average of 2 people in the party.

Since Kauai is a direct flight away from the West Coast of the United States, Kauai sees a large number of visitors from the Pacific Region. More than one in six visitors to Kauai are from California (19,000). 6,700 visitors are from Washington and 3,300 visitors are from Oregon.

Approximately 10,000 people from the Mountain Region visit Kauai each month, with Arizona (2,100), Colorado (2,400) and Utah (2,400) leading the way. Other popular arrivals to Kauai include visitors from Minnesota (2,800), Texas (2,700), Illinois (2,800) and New York (2,300). The state with the lowest number of visitors to Kauai in January 2016 was West Virginia with just 75 people.

(Source: Hawaii Tourism Authority January 2016)

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