With another year coming to a close, we wanted to look back on 2017 and what we’ve accomplished on the HawaiiActivities website.
Obviously, we sell tours, but which ones were the most popular? Which were most viewed and booked out of the more than 700 different tours and activities offered on our site?
Since we love statistics so much, we’ve decided to look ourselves and share the top-performers of 2017 with you!
Read on for top-10 lists and monthly trends!
Top Views
These activities were the most attractive to browsers, getting the highest number of unique pageviews in 2017:
- Holokai Catamaran Waikiki Sunset Cocktail Sail with Open Bar
- Star of Honolulu Sunset Dinner Cruise with Live Entertainment
- Hawaiian Parasail at Waikiki Beach
- Captain Bob’s Kaneohe Bay Sandbar Snorkel Adventure & BBQ Lunch
- ATV Ride Off-road Tour at Kualoa Ranch Movie Sites
- Kualoa Ranch Multi-Tour Value Pass – ATV, Horseback Riding & More
- Maitai Catamaran Sunset Cocktail & Friday Fireworks Sail (from Waikiki Beach)
- Holokai Catamaran Turtle Canyon Snorkel Sail (from Waikiki Beach)
- Mountain Tubing Adventure Tour
- Paradise Cove Luau at Ko Olina Resort
A few notes:
- Oahu-based activities dominate the list, with only a single outer-island adventure making an appearance: mountain tubing.
- Water-based activities also comprise a majority, with only 3 entries not dependent on being on or in water.
- Boats are especially popular, with 4 of the top 10 being cruises of different kinds.
- There’s only one luau and it ranks tenth!
- I’ve put together a comparative graph of pageviews for the top 10 viewed activities:
Descending from left to right, we see the top 4 activities had much higher views than the others.
We were also able to come up with monthly data of how many pageviews we received last year, shown below:
As you can see, summer and winter are ever-popular, peaking in January and July, with a small bump during March for Spring Break.
Earlier in the year is more popular than later in the year, which could be explained by the fact that the humpback whales make their appearance from December to April or
Alternatively, the weather is probably also a major attraction in Hawaii during the winter, pulling in “snow birds” that visit from colder climes.
HawaiiActivities.com is a booking agency, however, so looking at views won’t give us the whole story.
Here’s what our bookings looked like for the 12 months of 2017:
In general, the trends remain the same as the pageviews, with the exception of December receiving more bookings than January (and vice versa in regards to views).
Here’s the two graphs put together:
Booking are in green, views in blue. Note that the graphs have been scaled proportionally such that they look neater together: if it were real values, the blue columns would be considerably taller than the green ones.
An interesting trend is that more of our bookings happen in the later part of the year, while we receive proportionally more views in the early months.
Top 10 Best-Selling Tours
Here’s the fun part—these are HawaiiActivities’ most popular tours of 2017! Let’s count them down.
10. North Shore Skydiving
While you can skydive almost anywhere in the world, in Hawaii your only chance is on North Shore Oahu. Plummeting from 15,000 feet with the beautiful scenery of Oahu rushing up to greet you is a thrilling, one-of-a-kind experience. The professionals at Pacific Int’l Skydiving Center are skilled, reputable, and encouraging making this a great opportunity to skydive even if you’ve never done it before!
9. Haleakala Sunrise Tour
Located on Maui, what makes this tour spectacular is that you’ll be able to watch the sun come up from above the clouds, standing at 10,000 feet above sea level on the peak of a dormant volcano. Haleakala is a wonderful place, with it’s Martian landscape and unique flora, and is a must-see for anyone on Maui!
8. Speedi Shuttle
Before you get to all the beautiful, fun, and interesting places in Hawaii, you first have to get out of the airport. What better way than an affordable, reliable, and quick shuttle to your hotel?
7. Star of Honolulu Sunset Dinner Cruise
The largest cruise vessel based in Hawaii and Oahu’s premier sunset dining cruise, the Star of Honolulu departs from Aloha Tower, offering a variety of dinner options from a casual buffet to an elegant, romantic 7-course affair.
6. Holokai Catamaran Sunset Cocktail Sail
This cocktail sail departs right from Waikiki Beach, featuring an open bar and a beautiful sunset seven days a week. More casual than a dinner cruise, an evening catamaran sail is the perfect way to unwind and relax in paradise.
5. Paradise Cove Luau
Oahu’s most popular luau isn’t in Waikiki, it’s way out in Ko Olina. Paradise Cove features its own private estate on the West side of Oahu, hosting the various mainstays of the luau tradition, including authentic Hawaiian food (with contemporary local additions), live Hawaiian music, and hula performances ending with a fire knife dance!
4. Hawaiian Parasail
One of the water sports adventures that are oh-so popular in Hawaii, parasailing is especially fun because of how accessible it is. Unlike kayaking or surfing, parasailing doesn’t require much in terms of physical exertion—you just sit there, suspended in the sky! Still apprehensive? You can read about my own experience parasailing with Hawaiian Parasail here.
3. Maitai Catamaran Sunset & Fireworks Sail
Sunset sails are always popular, but another spectacular evening attraction in Waikiki is the Friday night fireworks at the Hilton. Every weekend in Waikiki starts with a fireworks show, and the area gets crowded with many spectators crowding the beach. There’s no better way to see the display than from a boat off the shore!
2. Captain Bob’s Kaneohe Sandbar Adventure
The Kaneohe Sandbar is one of Oahu’s not-so-secret attractions. Located a mile off the coast, this raised area of land is isolated enough to require a boat to get to. Once you’re there, however, you’ll have this remote beach to yourself to relax, explore, or play a game of beach volleyball.
1. Holokai Catamaran Turtle Canyon Snorkel Sail
Catamarans are popular in part due to their more casual nature when compared to larger vessels. The Holokai Catamaran, our most popular activity in 2017, takes you to “Turtle Canyon,” a reef just off the coat of Waikiki where Green Sea Turtles commonly gather.
Holokai Catamaran actually has has two activities in our top 10, since they’re so popular. The Holokai is one of the newest seafaring vessels in Hawaii and comes equipped with a fully-stocked bar, restroom, lounge seating, and trampoline netting.
Whether you’re an avid diver or new to snorkeling, this cruise is bound to be a lot of fun, providing all the gear you’ll need to explore the reef. The crew will also help you out and give instructions if it’s your first time!
Here’s a comparative graph for the top 10 activities, descending from left to right. The top five were incredibly popular, plateauing a bit from #6 – #10.
That’s our best-of-the-best for the year 2017! Last year was great, and marked the creation of this blog!
We’re glad to host our travelers, and if you didn’t have a chance to visit Hawaii yet, we hope you can make it here in 2018!
Hau’oli makahiki hou!
