VISITOR RECOVERY CONTINUED THROUGH JULY 2023

Note: As Hawaii continues to navigate the recovery and relief efforts on Maui, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism understands the need to provide the public with statistics, research, and other important information it has come to expect and rely on.

News Release from DBEDT, August 31, 2023

HONOLULU—According to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), a total of 932,713 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in July 2023, an increase of 1.5 percent from July 2022. When compared to 2019, the benchmark year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a 93.7 percent recovery in total visitor arrivals from July 2019. As measured in nominal dollars, total visitors in July 2023 spent $2.05 billion, which was higher than $1.99 billion (+2.8%) in July 2022 and $1.70 billion (+20.7%) in July 2019.

In July 2023, 929,386 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Additionally, 3,327 visitors came via a single cruise ship. July is typically a slow month for out-of-state cruise ships to the islands and there were no visitor arrivals by cruise ships in 2022 or in 2019. There were 918,616 visitors who arrived by air (+1.2%) in July 2022 and 995,210 visitors who arrived by air (-6.6%) in July 2019. The average length of stay by all visitors in July 2023 was 9.06 days, compared to 9.39 days (-3.5%) in July 2022 and 8.92 days (+1.6%) in July 2019. The statewide average daily census¹ was 272,622 visitors in July 2023, compared to 278,257 visitors (-2.0%) in July 2022 and 286,419 visitors (-4.8%) in July 2019.

In July 2023, 499,029 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, which was down from July 2022 (528,123 visitors, -5.5%) but an increase compared to July 2019 (462,676 visitors, +7.9%). U.S. West visitor spending of $972.1 million in July 2023 was slightly lower than July 2022 ($981.4 million, -0.9%) but much higher than July 2019 ($669.8 million, +45.1%). Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in July 2023 ($227 per person) was up moderately from July 2022 ($212 per person, +6.8%) but was considerably more than July 2019 ($165 per person, +37.3%).

There were 249,503 visitors from the U.S. East in July 2023, comparable to July 2022 (248,988 visitors, +0.2%) but higher than July 2019 (243,498 visitors, +2.5%). U.S. East visitor spending of $628.4 million in July 2023 declined from $651.3 million (-3.5%) in July 2022 but increased compared to $510.7 million (+23.1%) in July 2019. Daily spending by U.S. East visitors in July 2023 ($259 per person) was down in comparison to July 2022 ($263 per person, -1.5%) but was higher than July 2019 ($216 per person, +19.8%).

There were 52,885 visitors from Japan in July 2023, compared to 18,928 visitors (+179.4%) in July 2022 and 134,587 visitors (-60.7%) in July 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $83.2 million in July 2023, compared to $36.0 million (+131.1%) in July 2022 and $186.5 million (-55.4%) in July 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in July 2023 ($243 per person) increased compared to July 2022 ($238 per person, +1.8%) and July 2019 ($234 per person, +3.9%).

In July 2023, 27,056 visitors arrived from Canada, compared to 26,684 visitors (+1.4%) in July 2022 and 26,939 visitors (+0.4%) in July 2019. This was the second consecutive month where visitor arrivals from Canada exceeded 2019 levels. Visitors from Canada spent $68.2 million in July 2023, compared to $59.2 million (+15.3%) in July 2022 and $50.1 million (+36.3%) in July 2019. Daily spending by Canadian visitors in July 2023 ($229 per person) increased significantly compared to July 2022 ($189 per person, +21.4%) and July 2019 ($158 per person, +45.0%).

There were 100,912 visitors from all other international markets in July 2023, which included visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, the Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. In comparison, there were 95,894 visitors (+5.2%) from all other international markets in July 2022 and 127,510 visitors (-20.9%) in July 2019.

In July 2023, a total of 5,350 trans-Pacific flights with 1,175,655 seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands, compared to 5,439 flights (-1.6%) with 1,159,031 seats (+1.4%) in July 2022 and 5,681 flights (-5.8%) with 1,254,165 seats (-6.3%) in July 2019.

Year-to-Date 2023

In the first seven months of 2023, total visitor spending was $12.83 billion, up from $11.35 billion (+13.0%) in the first seven months of 2022 and from $10.55 billion (+21.6%) in the first seven months of 2019.

A total of 5,897,424 visitors arrived in the first seven months of 2023, an increase of 10.4 percent from 5,341,149 visitors in the first seven months of 2022. Total arrivals declined 4.4 percent when compared to 6,166,392 visitors in the first seven months of 2019.

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