Mid-week visitor count moves higher, but out-of-state passenger trend remains low
![CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
A traveler from Los Angeles was picked up by her daughter at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on April 22.](https://staradvertiser.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/web1_CTY-AIRPORT0171.jpg)
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
A traveler from Los Angeles was picked up by her daughter at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on April 22.
Wednesday brought one of the highest counts of out-of-state visitor arrivals into the state since tourism lockdowns began in mid-March.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority reported today that 590 trans-Pacific passengers arrived on Wednesday, including 187 visitors and 220 residents. The count also included 99 airline crew members, 20 transit passengers who are catching other flights and 62 intended new residents for Oahu and two for Lihue.
As many as 160 of the visitors went to Oahu, while Maui had 20 and Lihue had seven.
Hawaii residents were the largest category comprising 37% of the total. But visitors, which made up 32% of the traffic, weren’t far behind.
The state defines visitors as everyone with an out-of-state ID who plans to leave Hawaii after a period of time. Intended residents are those with out-of-state IDs who say they plan to stay here. The intended residents category might include military personnel, college students, people moving to Hawaii to live with their families, and homeless individuals.
On March 26, Hawaii became the country’s first state to implement a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine order for incoming travelers, which was extended to interisland travelers on April 1.
The quarantine collapsed tourism to the point that, since its March start, only 4,472 visitors, which represent a mix of leisure and essential travelers, have come into the state. Wednesday’s higher visitor count brought the 34-day average of trans-Pacific visitors to about 128 days.
In April 2019, 856,250 visitors came to Hawaii.