Visitor expenditures and arrivals increased in August, but the year-over-year gain was due to the comparison with August 2023, when the devastating Maui wildfires took tourism to new lows.

Arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands rose 6.4% year over year to 819,152 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The gain was mostly due to Maui arrivals rebounding 79.8% compared with August 2023, when the deadly wildfires destroyed much of Lahaina and closed Maui to tourism.

More than a year after the deadly wildfires, the dampening continues to affect tourism performance statewide. August arrivals rose only 1% on Oahu from August 2023 and fell 6% on Molokai, 1.2% on Lanai, 8.7% on Kauai and 6.2% on Hawaii island, and 100% for cruise ships. An issue is that August arrivals to Hawaii from the the state’s top U.S. markets rose only 8.6% from the lackluster August 2023, which wasn’t enough to offset a 17% drop in August visitor arrivals from Japan, Hawaii’s top international market.

Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars in August was $1.72 billion, a gain of 11.4% from August 2023. However, results varied across the islands. While year-over-year visitor spending rose on Oahu, Maui and Lanai, it dropped by double digits on Molokai, Kauai and Hawaii island.

Hundreds of tourism officials gathered Monday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center for the start of a three-day Hawai‘i Tourism Authority Conference, which was sold out. The challenge of recovering Hawaii tourism, which in August was only 88.4% recovered from August 2019, likely contributed to attendance at the conference, which emphasized regenerative tourism. HTA defines that model as benefiting the environment and communities while supporting jobs and small businesses.

HTA board Chair Mufi Hannemann said, “In this crisis mode that we are facing coming out of the pandemic and the Maui wildfires, more than ever, tourism has to be that model because nothing comes close to what we do with respect to what we bring in in tax revenues and what we bring in the jobs.”

HTA said tourism generates $21 billion in visitor spending and $2.4 billion in state tax revenue, and supports 212,000 jobs.

Daniel Naho‘opi‘i, HTA interim president and CEO, said HTA now is focused on stabilizing its international markets and supporting Maui by also recovering demand from the U.S. and Canada.

Naho‘opi‘i said that over the next three years or so, HTA will work with its new island-based destination managers to focus on establishing aina-based systems to drive tourism decisions at island-based levels.

“By five years from now you will see that the Hawaiian Islands will shift to a successful regenerative tourism model where visitors come to rejuvenate, do cultural tours, volunteerism and educational experiences all powered by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority,” he said.

Hannemann said marketing is important but that the management of tourism is just as important.

“We saw that firsthand in two missions that I was involved with recently: a saturation mission to Los Angeles and a tourism promotion in Japan where you saw the elements of marketing and management come together and the overlying message was, ‘We are open for travel.’”

Hannemann also emphasized the importance of the broad industry collaboration that he said played a role in making the Los Angeles and Japan missions successful.

He said HTA contributed $1.5 million to the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau’s Aloha Market Los Angeles Activation, and the broader industry outspent HTA by at least 3-to-1. Hannemann added that the Japan mission was the first time since 2009 that Hawaii government officials had robustly supported a Japan mission.

Eric Takahata, director of Hawai‘i Tourism Japan, said key legislators visited Japan from Sept. 25 to 29, where they fostered relationships at Japan Travel and Tourism Association’s Tourism EXPO and met with key Japan officials, industry stakeholders and transportation and airline partners to drive travel demand.

Takahata said the Japan market to Hawaii in August had recovered to only 45% of the pre-pandemic level. He said the market is expected to recover to 50% of 2019 by year’s end and 60% in 2025.

“Full recovery isn’t anticipated until 2026 or 2027,” he said.

Takahata said that as a result of the Japan mission, HTA and its “Meet Hawai‘i” team recently entered into a three-year partnership agreement with JTB in Japan to stimulate meetings, conventions and incentives business for the Hawaiian Islands to help the market recover. He said HTA also renewed a memorandum of understanding with travel agency HIS to boost responsible and regenerative tourism.

Takahata said another highlight of the mission was a meeting with economist Jesper Koll, who advises Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, and was an economic adviser to former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

“He said in his view there is a huge opportunity for Hawaii with the new middle class in Japan and the plethora of startup companies with young CEOs,” Takahata said. “We’ve been more multigenerational travel, so this is a new affluent market that we really haven’t been going after.”

Despite the collaborations, overall it wasn’t a great summer for Hawaii tourism, and softening has carried over into fall.

DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said in statement that August’s tourism industry industry performance was lower than expected.

“This August registered as the lowest-performing month during the summer season,” Tokioka said.

Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance, said some softness is present even in Hawaii’s festive holiday season, which is generally a peak travel period.

And there’s another threat: Some 1,800 hotel workers belonging to UNITE HERE Local 5 are on strike at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, the state’s largest hotel. A small group of Local 5 strikers were picketing outside the entrance to the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Monday morning as conventioneers were arriving.

Workers have been calling travelers, especially group travelers, to warn them of the strike. Some travelers, who were staying at Hilton Hawaiian Village during the strike, have posted negative comments on social media about increased noise and other vacation disruptions.

Pleasant Holidays CEO and President Jack Richards said some travelers have asked to move from Hilton Hawaiian Village into other Hawaii hotels, but so far, the strike hasn’t exacerbated softness across Hawaii.

However, Richards said the impact would be significant if the strike spreads to multiple Hawaii hotels. That’s a possibility given that Local 5 workers already have authorized strike votes at the Sheraton Kauai Resort and six other Waikiki hotels: the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort &Spa; Moana Surfrider — a Westin Resort Spa; The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort; Sheraton Princess Kaiulani; Sheraton Waikiki; and the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort &Spa.

If the slowing continues, the downward trajectory evident in DBEDT statistics at the eighth-month mark could worsen.

More than 6.5 million visitors arrived in the first eight months of 2024, which was a decrease of 2.2% from the first eight months of 2023 and a decline of 8% from the first eight months of 2019.

In the first eight months of 2024, total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars was $14.06 billion, down 2.3% from from $14.39 billion in the first eight months of 2023 but up 16.6% from the $12.06 billion in nominal spending during the first eight months of 2019.