Jump in domestic arrivals brought Hawaii close to pre-pandemic levels in September
STAR-ADVERTISER FILE
Waikiki Beach on Oahu, as seen in September 2021. Visitor arrivals to Hawaii in September were within 5% of pre-pandemic times, mostly due to domestic visitors as arrivals from international destinations, especially Japan, were still down.
Visitor arrivals to Hawaii in September were within 5% of pre-pandemic times, mostly due to domestic visitors as arrivals from international destinations, especially Japan, were still down.
Some 703,270 visitors came to Hawaii in September, representing a 95.5% recovery from September 2019, according to preliminary visitor statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Visitor spending in September rose to more than $1.8 billion, a nominal (not adjusted for inflation) increase of 18.5% over September 2019.
Arrivals from the U.S. West in September rose to 395,115, a 29.2 % gain from September 2019. They spent $779.8 million in September 2022, a rise of 67.3% from September 2019.
Arrivals from the U.S. East increased by 28.4% from September of 2019 to 170,995 visitors. U.S. East visitors spent $423.1 million in September 2022, an increase of 46.5% from September 2019.
International visitor arrivals to Hawaii are recovering but were still down in September compared with September 2019.
Only 24,092 visitors from Japan came to Hawaii in September. Arrivals from Japan, which is normally Hawaii’s largest source market for international visitors, were down 83.3% from September of 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $42.5 million in September 2022, down 78.4% from September 2019
September’s visitors stayed an average of 8.9 days, up 5.9% from their average length of stay in September 2019.On any given day across the state in September, there were 208, 589 visitors up 1.2% from the average daily visitor census in September of 2019.
Results varied across the major islands. The average daily visitor census in September was up 23.9% for Hawaii island in September, and was up 19% for Kauai and 7% for Maui. However, the average daily census in September on Oahu was down 10.5%.
More than 7.8 million visitors came to Hawaii through the first nine months of 2022, a 12% decrease from the same period in 2019. However, total nominal visitor spending through September rose 7.9% to $14.35 billion.
