Governor Josh Green, M.D.

HONOLULU, HI – According to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), a total of 827,537 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in April 2023, an increase of 1.1 percent from April 2022. When compared to 2019, the benchmark year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a 97.4 percent recovery in total visitor arrivals from April 2019 and is the highest recovery rate so far since the beginning of the pandemic. As measured in nominal dollars, these visitors spent $1.72 billion in April 2023, which was higher than $1.60 billion (+8.0%) in April 2022 and $1.32 billion (+30.7%) in April 2019.

In April 2023, 806,209 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Additionally, 21,328 visitors arrived by cruise ships during the month. In April 2022, 809,612 visitors arrived by air (-0.4%) and 8,656 visitors came by cruise ships (+146.4%). In April 2019, 824,610 visitors arrived by air (-2.2%) and 24,787 visitors came by cruise ships (-14.0%). The average length of stay by all visitors in April 2023 was 8.58 days compared to 8.68 days
(-1.2%) in April 2022 and 8.25 days (+4.0%) in April 2019. The statewide average daily census[1] was 236,661 visitors in April 2023, compared to 236,835 visitors (-0.1%) in April 2022 and 233,616 visitors (+1.3%) in April 2019.

In April 2023, 465,116 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, which was down from April 2022 (514,878 visitors, -9.7%) but an increase compared to April 2019 (388,573 visitors, +19.7%). U.S. West visitors spending of $874.4 million in April 2023 declined from April 2022 ($940.9 million, -7.1%) but was higher than April 2019 ($547.0 million, +59.8%). Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in April 2023 ($233 per person) was up moderately from April 2022 ($224 per person, +4.3%) but was considerably more than April 2019 ($171 per person, +36.0%).

There were 186,695 visitors from the U.S. East in April 2023, a slight drop from April 2022 (188,868 visitors, -1.2%) but much higher than April 2019 (159,115 visitors, +17.3%). U.S. East visitor spending increased to $473.2 million in April 2023, compared to $422.9 million (+11.9%) in April 2022 and $286.8 million (+65.0%) in April 2019. Daily spending by U.S. East visitors in April 2023 ($278 per person) increased significantly in comparison to April 2022 ($242 per person, +15.0%) and April 2019 ($200 per person, +39.1%).

There were 34,358 visitors from Japan in April 2023, compared to 6,749 visitors (+409.1%) in April 2022 and 119,487 visitors (-71.2%) in April 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $57.3 million in April 2023, compared to $15.3 million (+274.1%) in April 2022 and $164.0 million (-65.0%) in April 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in April 2023 ($235 per person) increased compared to April 2022 ($231 per person, +1.9%) and was about the same as April 2019 ($234 per person, +0.6%).

In April 2023, 39,333 visitors arrived from Canada, compared to 43,107 visitors (-8.8%) in April 2022 and 56,749 visitors (-30.7%) in April 2019. Visitors from Canada spent $96.3 million in April 2023, compared to $88.8 million (+8.5%) in April 2022 and $100.2 million (-3.8%) in April 2019. Daily spending by Canadian visitors in April 2023 ($217 per person) increased substantially compared to April 2022 ($182 per person, +19.3%) and April 2019 ($154 per person, +41.0%).

There were 80,708 visitors from All Other International Markets in April 2023, which included visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. In comparison, there were 56,010 visitors (+44.1%) from All Other International Markets in April 2022 and 100,686 visitors (-19.8%) in April 2019.

In April 2023, a total of 5,014 trans-Pacific flights with 1,085,186 seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands, down from 5,171 flights (-3.0%) with 1,085,948 seats (-0.1%) in April 2022, and 5,031 flights (-0.3%) with 1,112,200 seats (-2.4%) in April 2019.

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Statement by DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka:

 

April marked the 24^th consecutive month where visitor arrivals from the U.S. mainland exceeded 2019 monthly levels for those respective months. April U.S. visitor arrivals were 19 percent higher than the same month in 2019.

 

It is encouraging to see the cruise market continue its recovery as the 21,328 visitors that came by cruise ships marked the second-highest count since the start of the pandemic.

 

It will take a while for the international visitor arrivals to recover to pre-pandemic levels. The recovery of international markets this April was at 55.8 percent and Japanese arrivals were at 28.8 percent of the April 2019 levels. Visitor expenditures, as measured by nominal dollars, were 21.7 percent higher compared with the same period in 2019.  After adjusting for inflation, real visitor spending was higher than the pre-pandemic level.

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Media Contacts:

 

Laci Goshi 

Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism

(808) 587-9006

[email protected]

 

 

Jennifer Chun

Director of Tourism Research

Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism

(808) 973-9446

Jennifer.e.chun@hawaii.gov