×

Arrivals to Maui in March topped pre-pandemic levels

State saw boost in visitor spending and international travel

Kahului Airport’s security lines are jampacked with travelers on April 5, amid the typical spring break rush of late March and early April. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

A rising influx of tourism dollars and the return of international travel strengthened Hawaii’s economy in March, with Maui seeing more visitors than it did prior to the pandemic, according to preliminary visitor statistics released by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Saying that tourism was busy that month, DBEDT Director Chris Sadayasu said in a news release Thursday that the state saw the second-highest monthly figure in the last three years, totaling 900,800 visitors in March, which is an increase of 14.2 percent from March 2022.

When compared to 2019, the benchmark year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a 97 percent recovery in total visitor arrivals from March 2019.

“While U.S. visitor arrivals remained high, visitation from international markets was the highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at 182,478 arrivals and represented a 62.4 percent recovery from the same month in 2019,” Sadayasu said.

All visitors combined spent $1.84 billion in March, up 20.4 percent from $1.53 billion in March 2022 and up 23.4 percent from $1.49 billion in March 2019, according to the report.

Arriving travelers gather around the baggage claim areas of Kahului Airport on April 5, amid the typical spring break rush of late March and early April.

Maui hosted 276,485 visitors in March, 15.4 percent more than the 239,538 visitors the island saw in March 2022. This was also a 1.7 percent increase from the same month in 2019 when there were 271,934 visitors to the island.

Visitor spending totaled $619.9 million in March on Maui, which is a 35.1 percent increase compared to $458.8 million spent in March 2022 and a 39.8 percent increase from the $443.3 million spent in March 2019.

Oahu saw the most visitors of any of the islands in March with 487,393 arrivals, which is 20.6 percent higher compared to 404,274 visitors in March 2022, but still slightly lower by 7 percent compared to March 2019 when Oahu saw 523,904 visitors.

Visitor spending on Oahu was up 8.7 percent over previous years at $731.4 million in March compared to $672.8 million in March 2022 and $672.9 million in March 2019.

Hawaii island had 161,172 visitors in March, a 13.6 percent increase compared to 141,854 visitors in March 2022, and a very slight 0.1 percent rise from 161,087 visitors in March 2019.

Visitor spending totaled $236.9 million in March, which is 9.1 percent higher than the $217.3 million spent last year during the same month and an 18 percent increase compared to March 2019 when $200.7 million was spent on Hawaii island.

Kauai, meanwhile, saw 122,585 visitors in March, a 15.1 percent increase compared to 106,544 visitors in March 2022 and just 0.2 percent less than the 122,876 visitors in March 2019.

Visitor spending on Kauai also exceeded previous years. In March, tourists spent a total of $222.5 million, a significant 39.1 percent increase from the $159.9 million spent in March 2022 and 45.8 percent more than the $152.6 million spent in March 2019.

So far in 2023, total visitor spending across the state has reached $5.37 billion, up 26.8 percent from $4.23 billion in the first quarter of 2022, and 19.5 percent higher than $4.49 billion in the first quarter of 2019.

Just over 2.4 million tourists arrived in the islands in the first quarter of 2023, which was a 22.7 percent increase from the nearly 2 million visitors in the first quarter of 2022. Total arrivals were down 3.2 percent when compared to around 2.5 million visitors in the first quarter of 2019.

Arrivals from Japan and Canada in March were at the highest volumes since the beginning of the pandemic, Sadayasu said. Japanese visitor arrivals recovered about 30 percent in March, and it is expected that the Japanese market will recover to 50 percent by the end of this year.

According to the report, there were 40,039 visitors from Japan in March compared to 4,038 visitors in March 2022, a near-tenfold increase but still 70.1 percent less than the 133,858 visitors who arrived during the same month in 2019.

Still, visitors from Japan spent $61.3 million in March, compared to the $11.8 million spent in March 2022, which is still down nearly 70 percent from $185.2 million in March 2019.

In March, 64,377 visitors arrived from Canada, an 18.2 percent increase over 54,475 Canadian visitors in March 2022 but a 16.3 percent decrease from 76,913 visitors in March 2019.

Visitors from Canada spent nearly 40 percent more in March at $162.4 million compared to the $116.1 million spent last year during the same month and 16.2 percent more than the $139.8 million spent in March 2019.

The tourism statistics for March were consistent with other data released earlier this month, Sadayasu noted, with job counts in the hospitality sector increasing by 11 percent, the hotel occupancy rate by 1.7 percentage points and the transient accommodations tax increasing 17.1 percent last month as compared with March 2022.

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

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today