Hawaii’s tourism industry shows continued recovery in the new year: state report

HONOLULU (Eagle News) – According to preliminary data by the State’s Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT), a total of 791,781 visitors arrived in the Islands in January 2023, up 37.9% from January 2022 while showing a 96.8% recovery in total arrivals if compared to January 2019.

When measured in dollars, these visitors spent about $1.89 billion last January, compared to $1.4 billion (up 35.5%) in the same month in 2022 and $1.62 billion (up 17.2%) at the start of 2019.

(FILE) A portion of Honolulu’s coastline as seen from a window of a departing flight. (Photo by Alfred Acenas, Eagle News Service)

As for average length of stay, travelers in January 2023 spent 10.16 days in Hawaii, compared to 10.91 days in January 2022 (down 6.9%) and 9.94 days (up 2.2%) in January 2019.

An uptick in inter-island travel can also be attributed to the Aloha State’s steady recovery.

Last January, a total of 5,335 Trans-Pacific flights with 1,182,832 seats serviced the Islands, which is an increase compared to 4,943 flights (up 7.9%) with 1,036,920 seats (up 4.1%) in 2022; and from 5,158 flights (up 3.4%) with 1,134,182 (up 4.3%) in January 2019.

Meanwhile, two of the State’s largest foreign visitor markets – Japan and Canada – are still catching up to pre-pandemic levels despite promising statistics so far this year.

There were 32,305 travelers from Japan in January 2023, compared to only 2,850 visitors in January 2022, yet still below 120,418 in January 2019. Moreover, visitors from Japan spent $58.1 million in January 2023, compared to $11.6 million in January 2022 and $173.4 million in January 2019.

Last January, 56,501 visitors arrived from Canada, compared to only 23,551 in January 2022 but not as many back in January 2019 with 69,687. These travelers spent a total of $154.4 million in January 2023, compared to $69.5 million in 2022 and $165.4 million in January 2019.

At the start of this year, there were 89,689 visitors from all other international markets like Australia/Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. By comparison, there were only 30,318 visitors from the said markets at the same time in 2022 and 112,554 visitors (down 20.3%) in January 2019.

“The tourism industry had a good start in 2023 with nearly a 97% recovery in arrivals,” said DBEDT Director Chris J. Sadayasu. “With the recovery of tourism, especially international tourism, those businesses that rely on international visitors will experience a better year in 2023, although full recovery may take a few years.”

The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) is the State of Hawaii’s resource center for economic and statistical data, business development opportunities, energy and conservation information, and foreign trade advantages.

(Alfred Acenas, Eagle News Service, Eagle News Service)