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.
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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.
