US visitors far outspending 2019 levels

Total tourists to Maui in November nearly on par with pre-pandemic counts

While most islands saw slightly fewer visitors in November compared to the same month in 2019, more money was spent by tourists traveling from the U.S. West and East coasts, supporting Hawaii's slow economic recovery.

A total of 735,340 visitors arrived in Hawaii in November, representing a 90.9 percent recovery from the same month in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to preliminary visitor statistics released late last month by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"While we may experience a slowdown in the U.S. visitors coming into 2023, we hope that more international visitors will be coming in the new year and our tourism recovery continues in 2023," DBEDT Director Chris Sadayasu said. "We expect full tourism recovery in 2025."

Maui was much closer to full recovery than the state as a whole. There were 228,803 visitors to Maui in November, which is about 98.5 percent of the 232,330 visitors who came in November 2019. Visitor spending was up 15 percent at $435.2 million compared to $377.9 million in November 2019. The average daily census on Maui was 62,204 visitors in November, up from the 61,437 visitors who came to Maui that same month in 2019.

Through the first 11 months of 2022, there were 2,651,688 visitors to Maui compared to 2,784,485 visitors in the first 11 months of 2019. While there were slightly fewer visitors than in the 2019 reports, total visitor spending was up 11.2 percent at $5.13 billion compared to $4.61 billion in the first 11 months of 2019.

Unsurprisingly, Oahu saw more visitors in November than any other island, but was still down 16.2 percent from the same month in 2019 -- 392,683 people arrived in November compared to 468,684 visitors in November 2019. Even though there were fewer people on the island, visitor spending was up 10.5 percent at $711.9 million from 2019 numbers.

Kauai was the only island in the state that experienced increases in travelers and visitor spending. The report showed that there were 2.5 percent more visitors (106,390) in November compared to November 2019, when there were 103,783.

Spending was up nearly 19 percent at $161.7 million compared to $135.9 million in November 2019.

On Hawaii island, there were 127,032 visitors in November, a nearly 4 percent decline compared to 131,713 in November 2019.

Still, visitor spending was up 19.6 percent at $192.3 million compared to $160.7 million in November 2019, according to the report.

Overall, visitors spent $1.52 billion in Hawaii in November, an increase of 13.7 percent compared to the $1.34 billion reported for November 2019. These dollars contribute to and support local businesses, shops, restaurants and activities throughout the state, DBEDT said.

"The continuing trend of higher spending visitors coupled with lower arrivals is promising for the state's economy and the many small kama?aina businesses that count on the visitor industry," DBEDT said in a news release.

At the same time, the department said that the strong recovery of Hawaii travel "underscores" the importance of destination management.

But, while Hawaii's economy is anticipated to slow midway through this year, visitors from the U.S. West and U.S. East continued to fuel the islands' recovery as these tourists spent considerably more in November at 45.7 percent and 28.7 percent increases, respectively, compared to November 2019.

U.S. West visitors spent $821.5 million in November, up 45.7 percent from $563.8 million in November 2019. Daily spending ($231 per person) was much higher compared to November 2019 ($179 per person).

Similarly, U.S. East visitors spent $394.8 million in November, up 28.7 percent from $306.8 million in November 2019. Daily spending in November ($248 per person) increased slightly compared to November 2019 ($221 per person).

International travel continues to make a slow recovery. DBEDT reported that there were 27,898 visitors from Japan in November, which is still 78.8 percent fewer people compared to 131,536 visitors in November 2019.

These numbers represented the second-highest monthly count of Japanese visitors since the pandemic and the highest recovery rate at 21.2 percent as compared with November 2019, Sadayasu said.

According to the report, Japanese visitors, most of whom were repeat visitors (78.6 percent) to the islands, spent much less than in 2019, too, totaling $46.3 million in November compared to $189.4 million at the same time three years ago.

Still, year-to-date through November, Sadayasu said that the total visitor count recovered 88.8 percent from the same period in 2019.

"Hawaii tourism continued to steadily recover in November with international visitor recovery at 53.7 percent as compared with the same month in 2019; this is the highest international recovery rate since the start of the pandemic in April 2020," he added, referring to the first full month of Hawaii's 14-day travel quarantine.

In November, 44,686 visitors arrived from Canada, which is just under 12 percent fewer when compared to the 50,598 travelers in November 2019. Visitors from Canada spent about 12 percent more at $110.4 million compared to $98.3 million in 2019.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.