Maui’s visitor count and spending in March were halved compared to the previous year as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the visitor industry by the end of the month.

Visitor arrivals by air for March were down 55 percent to 125,943; there were 276,732 visitors arriving in March 2019.

The average daily number of visitors on the island fell 51 percent to 34,164, down from 69,867 a year earlier.

Total spending by visitors for March fell 50 percent to $222 million. Interestingly, per person per trip spending rose 10.6 percent to $1,760 and per person per day spending rose 2.9 percent to $209.

Maui’s largest market, the U.S. West, recorded a 50 percent decline. The second largest market, the U.S. East, fell 45.7 percent, with declines also logged from Japan, 66.5 percent, and Canada, down 64.6 percent.

The luxury resorts on Lanai took even larger hits in March. Visitor arrivals fell 76 percent to 2,630; a year ago the total was 10,755. Spending tumbled as well, off 70 percent to $3.6 million. Spending was at $12.2 million last March.

With the smallest island visitor industry in the state, even Molokai had a falloff in visitors, down 51 percent to 2,353, and in visitor spending, down 47 percent to $1.9 million.

Visitor arrivals statewide fell about 50 percent in March on all islands. The overall state count was down 54 percent to 434,856 visitors. Oahu’s visitor count was down 55 percent; Kauai’s down 54 percent and Hawaii island’s, 54 percent.

Spending was down statewide 52 percent to $720 million in March. Not counting Lanai, Oahu took the biggest spending hit, 57 percent, followed by Kauai, 48 percent, and Hawaii island, 44 percent.

Flight cancellations to Hawaii began in February, initially starting in China. In March, the majority of flights to Hawaii were cancelled, and Gov. David Ige imposed the mandatory 14-day quarantine for people arriving from outside the state on March 26. Hotels began to shut down around that time.

On Wednesday, Maui saw 20 visitors from the Mainland on one flight, a high daily total that is usually in the single-digits.

In other tidbits in the report:

• Cruise ship visitors to Maui County fell 70.4 percent countywide. The cruise ship Grand Princess with passengers infected with the coronavirus anchored off Lahaina on Feb. 28 with people aboard making port calls. Many major cruise companies shut down voyages in early March.

• The number of airline seats to Kahului Airport fell 15 percent to 211,757.

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.