OCTOBER 2022 TOTAL VISTOR COUNT 95.1 PERCENT OF THE 2019 LEVEL

News Release from DBEDT, Nov 28, 2022

HONOLULU – According to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), a total of 757,182 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in October 2022, representing a 95.1 percent recovery from the same month in 2019. As measured in nominal dollars, these visitors spent $1.53 billion in October 2022, an increase of 15.1 percent compared to the $1.33 billion reported for October 2019.

(TRANSLATION: 'Nominal dollars' means 'not accounting for inflation'.  Inflation is 17% from 2019 to 2022 so a 15.1% 'nominal' increase means 'real dollar' spending is down, not up.)

In October 2022, 726,059 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Additionally, 31,123 visitors arrived by cruise ships during the month. In comparison, 775,675 visitors arrived by air (-6.4%) and 20,516 visitors came by cruise ships (+51.7%) in October 2019. The average length of stay by all visitors in October 2022 was 8.98 days, up from 8.38 days (+7.2%) in October 2019. The statewide average daily census[1] was 219,370 visitors in October 2022 compared to 215,125 visitors (+2.0%) in October 2019.

In October 2022, 410,092 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, an increase of 15.8 percent compared to 354,007 visitors in October 2019. U.S. West visitors spent $776.9 million in October 2022, up 44.2 percent from $538.7 million in October 2019. Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in October 2022 ($218 per person) was much higher compared to October 2019 ($178 per person, +23.0%).

There were 176,450 visitors from the U.S. East in October 2022, a 19.2 percent growth compared to the 148,075 visitors in October 2019. U.S. East visitors spent $427.5 million in October 2022, up 41.9 percent from $301.2 million in October 2019. Daily spending by U.S. East visitors in October 2022 ($251 per person) increased in comparison to October 2019 ($219 per person, +14.7%).

There were 24,339 visitors from Japan in October 2022 compared to 134,557 visitors (-81.9%) in October 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $42.2 million in October 2022 compared to $195.7 million (-78.4%) in October 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in October 2022 ($234 per person) was lower compared to October 2019 ($250 per person, -6.4%).

In October 2022, 31,573 visitors arrived from Canada compared to 32,250 visitors (-2.1%) in October 2019. Visitors from Canada spent $72.7 million in October 2022, compared to $63 million (+15.4%) in October 2019. Daily spending by Canadian visitors in October 2022 ($199 per person) increased compared to October 2019 ($167 per person, +19.3%).

In October 2022, there were 83,605 visitors from All Other International Markets, which included visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, Philippines and the Pacific Islands. In comparison, there were 106,786 visitors (-21.7%) from All Other International Markets in October 2019.

In October 2022, a total of 4,572 trans-Pacific flights with 974,071 seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands, compared to 4,807 flights (-4.9%) with 1,063,333 (-8.4%) in October 2019.

Through the first ten months of 2022, total visitor spending was $15.88 billion, up 8.5 percent from $14.63 billion in the first ten months of 2019. A total of 7,640,637 visitors arrived in the first ten months of 2022, which was a decrease compared to the first ten months of 2019 at 8,625,156 visitors (-11.4%).

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Statement by DBEDT Director Mike McCartney:

The October visitor statistics indicates that our tourism industry continues towards a positive recovery due to a strong U.S. market with total arrivals from all markets year-to-date at 88.6 percent of the same period 2019 level with spending at $15.8 billion so far this year.

January to October, international arrivals started to recover by 38.1 percent with visitors from Japan gaining momentum at 10.3 percent, from all Japanese travelers, for the same 10 months in 2019. With the expectation of the Japanese Yen exchange rate dropping to $134 in 2023 from $148 in 2022, further relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions worldwide and lower airline fuel surcharges, we expect the recovery of international visitors to accelerate in 2023.

We remain optimistic with the international visitor steadily returning to provide a healthy market mix by 2025. As we slowly start to host visitors and create economic opportunities for our communities, in the long run Hawai‘i will be well positioned by reinventing its offerings and caring for and protecting our natural resources and services that are crucial to maintain a competitive edge with other destinations. Mālama Ku‘u Home, caring for our beloved home, will attract the right mix of visitors and support quality local jobs and businesses.

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