Visitor arrivals, spending to Hawaii fell again in April

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

It was the tenth month in a row that the average daily census of visitors in Hawaii dropped. On any given day in April, DBEDT reported that there were 207,827 visitors in the Hawaiian islands, down 12.2% from April 2023.

In April, DBEDT reported that arrivals to the Hawaii islands dropped 8.9% year-over-year to 753,551 visitors. Visitor arrivals in April were 88.7% of the pre-pandemic April 2019 level.

Visitor arrivals in April 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 rose from cruise ships and from Japan, which was Hawaii’s top international market before the pandemic.

Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars in April was $1.51 billion, a drop of 12.6% compared to April 2023. However, total visitor spending was 14.3% higher than in April 2019 when nominal spending was nearly $1.32 billion.

Spending fell for the U.S. West, U.S. East and Canada and for the “All others” category,which includes foreign nations outside of Japan and Canada.Visitor spending for cruise ship visitors grew 93%.

Results were mixed across the islands, and April was the first month that arrivals to Oahu, Hawaii’s busiest visitor destination, decreased since March 2021.