Hawaii's latest tourism statistics a mishmash

by Kim Jarrett, The Center Square, August 29, 2024

Hawaii's tourism numbers from July signal improvement in some areas and a slight decline in others, according to statistics released Thursday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The number of visitors is down 1% from July 2023. But spending by tourists, when adjusted by inflation, is up 2.6% from last year at $207 billion.

A year after the Maui wildfires, the island's arrival numbers are beginning to improve, according to the department.

"Visitation to the island of Maui continued to improve in July 2024 with 237,495 visitor arrivals; the highest since the wildfires, which represents a recovery rate of 79.9 percent from the pre-wildfire level," said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka.

The statistics show Hawaii continues to recover from the pandemic. The number of July arrivals represents a 93% recovery compared to the same month in 2019, according to the DBEDT. Visitor spending in July 2024, when compared to July 2019, is up 22%.

"Though our visitor industry is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and Maui wildfires, the July visitor statistics showed some reasons for encouragement," Tokioka said. "Visitor arrivals from the U.S. West market at more than half of a million in July 2024 were the highest during the past two years. The 66,557 visitors from Japan in July were the third highest since March 2020 for this market."

The year-to-date numbers show a 3.3% decrease when compared to the same seven-month period in 2023. Visitor spending was down 3.9% from the previous year but 16.9% higher than it was in the first seven months of 2019, according to DBEDT.

The future looks bright, according to Tokioka.

"It is expected that visitor arrivals from the U.S. markets will remain above the 2019 levels for the remainder of the year and arrivals from Japan will continue recovering as the Japanese exchange rate has been improving during the past few weeks," Tokioka said.

  *   *   *   *   *

July 2024 Visitor Statistics Showed Some Signs of Improvement in Tourism Industry

News Release from DBEDT, August 29, 2024

HONOLULU—According to preliminary statistics from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), total visitor arrivals declined slightly but total visitor spending in July 2024 increased compared to July 2023. There were 925,935 visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in July 2024, down 1.0 percent from the same month last year. Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars was $2.07 billion, a growth of 2.6 percent from July 2023. July 2024 total visitor arrivals represent a 93.0 percent recovery compared to pre-pandemic July 2019 and total visitor spending was higher than July 2019 ($1.70 billion, +22.0%).

In July 2024, 925,935 visitors came by air service and they were mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Another 672 visitors came via one out-of-state cruise ship. In July 2023, 930,204 visitors arrived by air (-0.5%) and 4,935 visitors came via two out-of-state cruise ships (-86.4%). In July 2019, 995,210 visitors arrived by air (-7.0%) and no out-of-state cruise ship visited Hawaii.

The average length of stay by all visitors in July 2024 was 8.81 days, compared to 9.05 days (-2.6%) in July 2023 and 8.92 days (-1.2%) in July 2019. The statewide average daily census¹ was 263,281 visitors in July 2024, compared to 273,051 visitors (-3.6%) in July 2023 and 286,419 visitors (-8.1%) in July 2019.

In July 2024, 503,378 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, which was an increase compared to July 2023 (499,561 visitors, +0.8%) and July 2019 (462,676 visitors, +8.8%). U.S. West visitor spending of $1.01 billion grew compared to July 2023 ($932.3 million, +8.4%) and was significantly higher than July 2019 ($669.8 million, +50.9%). Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in July 2024 ($239 per person) increased compared to July 2023 ($217 per person, +10.0%) and was considerably more than July 2019 ($165 per person, +44.7%).

In July 2024, 231,490 visitors arrived from the U.S. East, down from July 2023 (249,489 visitors, -7.2%) and July 2019 (243,498 visitors, -4.9%). U.S. East visitor spending of $605.1 million declined from July 2023 ($631.6 million, -4.2%), but was higher than July 2019 ($510.7 million, +18.5%). Daily spending by U.S. East visitors in July 2024 ($270 per person) increased from July 2023 ($261 per person, +3.7%) and was much more than July 2019 ($216 per person, +24.9%).

There were 66,557 visitors from Japan in July 2024, which increased significantly from July 2023 (50,310 visitors, +32.3%), but continued to be much lower than July 2019 (134,587 visitors, -50.5%). Visitors from Japan spent $101.3 million in July 2024, compared to $78.3 million (+29.4%) in July 2023 and $186.5 million (-45.7%) in July 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in July 2024 ($241 per person) was higher than July 2023 ($240 per person, +0.3%) and July 2019 ($234 per person, +3.0%).

In July 2024, 21,551 visitors arrived from Canada, a decrease from July 2023 (27,790 visitors, -22.5%) and July 2019 (26,939 visitors, -20.0%). Visitors from Canada spent $49.8 million in July 2024, down from July 2023 ($71.5 million, -30.4%) and July 2019 ($50.1 million, -0.6%). Daily spending by Canadian visitors in July 2024 ($224 per person) was less than July 2023 ($229 per person, -2.0%), but was considerably more than July 2019 ($158 per person, +42.0%).

There were 102,289 visitors from all other international markets in July 2024, comprising visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, the Philippines, the Pacific Islands and other countries. In comparison, there were 103,054 visitors (-0.7%) from all other international markets in July 2023 and 127,510 visitors (-19.8%) in July 2019.

Air capacity to the Hawaiian Islands in July 2024 (5,445 transpacific flights with 1,202,693 seats) increased compared to July 2023 (5,357 flights, +1.6% with 1,176,257 seats, +2.2%), but declined compared to July 2019 (5,681 flights, -4.2% with 1,254,165 seats, -4.1%).

Year-to-Date 2024

A total of 5,706,863 visitors arrived in the first seven months of 2024, which was a decrease of 3.3 percent from 5,902,238 visitors in the first seven months of 2023. Total arrivals declined 7.5 percent when compared to 6,166,392 visitors in the first seven months of 2019.

In the first seven months of 2024, total visitor spending was $12.33 billion, down from $12.84 billion (-3.9%) in the first seven months of 2023, but higher than $10.55 billion (+16.9%) in the first seven months of 2019….

read … Full Report

SA: Summer tourism bump going flat as fall nears 

BH: Hawaii Travel Alert: Fall Deals Surge as Prices Drop! - Beat of Hawaii