You can call the 2011 Honolulu Marathon a $107 million dollar success. The destination sports event made for a huge windfall for the state.
The folks who work at the Running Room on Kapahulu Avenue know to be ready when December rolls around...
"We get more tourist business, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, more locals as well, maybe coming in for their second pair," said Lerma Jean Nakashima, the Running Room manager.
But more than the shoes...
"It would be a lot of apparel, accessories, shoes too," said Nakashima. "They do come in for new shoes."
Every year thousands line up at the Honolulu Marathon start line. And getting to that line costs money.
"More money, the Japanese this time spent more money than last year per day," said Jerry Agrusa, an HPU Professor tasked with calculating the economic impact of the marathon. "One of the reasons is the yen is more powerful. So the same number of yen actually brought more U.S. Dollars."
The Honolulu Marathon brought in more than 107 million dollars to the state. In December more than 22,600 people signed up for the race...with more than 12,000 of them coming from Japan. The March earthquake and tsunami created concerns as to how many folks would visit our islands. And the study of the nearly 1,900 surveyed discovered a resounding theme, especially among 20 to 50 year olds.
"But the younger folks, there's a large, 67% of that age group said nope we didn't consider, we're coming, we're going to enjoy ourselves," said Agrusa.
And they enjoyed themselves by staying longer and spending more money.13 percent stayed longer than the year before, and on average a Japanese visitor spent more than $344 dollars a day.
"And they're actually staying longer," said Agrusa. "Average stay is six days, but that age group was actually staying 8,9,10 days."
And with 10-thousand Kamaaina taking advantage of the early signup period the 40th annual Honolulu Marathon could be even bigger and better.
