Visitors to Hawaii and their daily spending continued to decline in March, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

It was the ninth month in a row that the average daily census of visitors in Hawaii dropped. On any given day in March, DBEDT reported that there were 234,306 visitors in the Hawaiian island, down 7.3% from March 2023.

In March, DBEDT reported that arrivals to the Hawaii islands dropped 5% year-over-year to 855,537 visitors. Visitor arrivals in March were 92% of the pre-pandemic March 2019 level.

Visitor arrivals in March fell for Hawaii’s core U.S. West and U.S. East markets, as well as for Canada and the category called “All others,” which includes international markets outside of Japan and Canada. Arrivals from cruise ships and from Japan, which was Hawaii’s top international market before the pandemic, rose.

Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars in March was $1.76 billion, a drop of 4.2 % compared to March 2023. However, total visitor spending was 18.2% higher than in March 2019 when nominal spending was at $1.49 billion.

Spending fell for the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada. It rose slightly for the “All others” category, and significantly for Japan and for cruise ships.