The MWEA team have become data nerds🤓. Yep, in the pursuit of providing reliable wedding and event industry data to our government partners we’ve been deep diving wedding facts and figures. And it’s a tricky exercise.
Why? Our industry is famously hard to track because we’re a mosaic of small, independent, and non-publicly reporting companies. But one way we can identify influence is by tracking visitor data!! If you’ve ever filled out a Department of Agriculture form mid-flight you may recall it requests reason for stay and “get married” is listed. Because of that data, we can identify that year to date over 7000 couples travelled to Maui to get married (interestingly, down 24% from 2023).
But wait! What about all the wedding guests? What about the tremendous impact they create to our visitor economy?
We’re excited to share our board’s feedback has been acknowledged and, starting January 2025, the Hawaii State visitor post-stay survey has been edited to list “attend a wedding” as a response to question 11B, reason for visit.
Why does that matter? Data is power. And with more information about the size and might of our industry, we can continue to show economic value, and seek industry specific support, including budget allocation for marketing.
Stay tuned for more exciting facts and figures from your favorite industry nerds at MWEA.