Maui visitor arrivals up to highest levels in five months; December spending down

Maui visitor arrivals were up in December to the highest levels in the nearly five months since the August Lahaina wildfire disaster, according to preliminary statistics from the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. However, the month’s Valley Isle arrivals were 24.8% less than December 2022 and 28.7% less than December 2019.

Maui’s December visitor spending fell to $464.4 million, or down 20.4% from $583.6 million rung up in December 2022.

This latest visitor count comes on the heels of the Nov. 1 reopening of tourism in West Maui, with the exception of Lahaina Town.

“The data shows reason for optimism that travel to Hawaiʻi is continuing to recover since the pandemic and since the Maui wildfires. While the decision to reopen West Maui to visitors was difficult, the numbers show that visitor industry revenue is helping the people of Maui,” said Gov. Josh Green.

The daily average census on Maui was 55,524 visitors in December 2023, a decline of 23.1% from the average census of 72,171 visitors in the same month in 2022 and a drop of 26.8% from the average daily visitor count of 75,856 in December 2019.

Here’s a breakdown of the Maui visitor numbers in December:

• Arrivals: 196,402 in 2023; 261,080 in 2022; 275,419 in 2019. (These exclude visitor arrivals in 2020 and 2021, both impacted by COVID-19.)
• Spending: $464.4 million in 2023; $583.6 million in 2022; $513.1 million 2019.

For all of 2023, Maui visitor arrivals totaled 2,476,751. That was down 15.2% from 2022 and a decline of 19.1% from 2019. Visitor spending in 2023 amounted to $5.71 billion, compared to $5.82 billion in 2022 and $5.13 billion in 2019.

For more visitor numbers, go to https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/blog/24-05/