Visitors to Maui in February up 14% from last year, spending up 34%

Tourism continued to recover across the state in February, with Maui County reporting double digit increases in visitors and spending over the same time last year.

There were 220,741 visitors to Maui in February 2023, compared to 193,232 visitors (+14.2%) in February 2022, and 221,603 visitors (-0.4%) in February 2019, according to the new data released by the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism. 

Visitor spending in Maui County was $540.1 million in February 2023, compared to $402.8 million in February 2022 (+34.1%), and $413.2 million (+30.7%) in February 2019, according to the DBEDT data.

The department reports that the average daily census on Maui was 66,332 visitors in February 2023, compared to 61,218 visitors (+8.4%) in February 2022, and 67,040 visitors (-1.1%) in February 2019.

In the first two months of 2023, there were 449,484 visitors to Maui, compared to 376,510 visitors (+19.4%) in the first two months of 2022, and 455,025 visitors (-1.2%) in the first two months of 2019, state officials report. 

For the first two months of 2023, total visitor spending was $1.17 billion, compared to $827.2 million (+40.9%) in the first two months of 2022, and $887.4 million (+31.3%) in the first two months of 2019.

Statewide, a total of 753,750 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in February 2023, an increase of 19.5% from February 2022. When compared to 2019, the benchmark year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a 96.5% recovery in total visitor arrivals from February 2019. As measured in nominal dollars, these visitors spent $1.64 billion in February 2023, up from $1.31 billion (+25.0%) in February 2022 and $1.39 billion (+18.0%) in February 2019, according to DBEDT.

In February 2023, 733,640 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the US West and US East. In February 2022, 623,691 visitors arrived by air (+17.6%) and 6,956 visitors came by cruise ships (+189.1%). In February 2019, 764,513 visitors arrived by air (-4.0%) and 16,315 visitors came by cruise ships (+23.3%), according to the report.

Preliminary data suggests that the average length of stay by all visitors in February 2023 was 9.07 days, compared to 9.37 days (-3.2%) in February 2022 and 8.85 days (+2.5%) in February 2019. The statewide average daily census was 244,227 visitors in February 2023, compared to 211,147 visitors (+15.7%) in February 2022 and 246,741 visitors (-1.0%) in February 2019 DBEDT reports.

There were 26,650 visitors from Japan in February 2023, compared to 2,181 visitors (+1,122.0%) in February 2022 and 120,653 visitors (-77.9%) in February 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $43.7 million in February 2023, compared to $8.1 million (+441.6%) in February 2022 and $165.5 million (-73.6%) in February 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in February 2023 ($237 per person) increased compared to February 2022 ($202 per person, +17.5%), but was lower than February 2019 ($242 per person, -2.3%), according to the report.

The department reports that in February 2023, a total of 4,654 trans-Pacific flights with 1,029,278 seats servicing the Hawaiian Islands. This was an increase compared to 4,484 flights (+3.8%) with 938,360 seats (+9.7%) in February 2022, and from 4,611 flights (+0.9%) with 1,010,961 (+1.8%) in February 2019.