DBEDT report: Maui visitor arrivals, spending fall steeply in July, compared with last year

A monthly report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism shows Maui tourism dropped significantly in July compared with last year, before the Lahaina and Upcountry wildfires.

Visitor arrivals were up on Oʻahu compared with last year, but down from 2019. Visitor counts were down slightly on Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi.

Here are the numbers for Maui:

• There were 237,495 visitors to Maui in July 2024, down 20.1% from 297,082 visitors in July 2023 and off 22.8% from 307,834 visitors in July 2019.
• Visitor spending was $510.6 million in July 2024, a decrease of 17.9% compared to $622.2 million in July 2023, but up 0.9% from $506 spent in in July 2019.
• The average daily census on Maui was 58,094 visitors in July 2024, a drop of 20.8% compared to 73,393 visitors in July 2023 and down 24.1% from 76,557 visitors in July 2019.

Maui’s year-to-date for the first seven months of this year:

• There were 1,369,728 visitors to Maui, a decline of 23.6% compared to 1,793,756 visitors in the first seven months of 2023 and off 25.2% from 1,830,367 visitors in the first seven months of 2019.
• Total visitor spending was $3.15 billion in this year’s first seven months, a fall of 24.4% compared to $4.17 billion in 2023, but up 1.2% compared with $3.11 billion in the first seven months of 2019.

“Visitation to the island of Maui continued to improve in July 2024 with 237,495 visitor arrivals; the highest since the wildfires, which represents a recovery rate of 79.9% from the pre-wildfire level,” said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka.

“Though our visitor industry is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and Maui wildfires, the July visitor statistics showed some reasons for encouragement,” he said. “Visitor arrivals from the US West market at more than half of a million in July 2024 were the highest during the past two years. The 66,557 visitors from Japan in July were the third highest since March 2020 for this market.”

Tokioka said visitor arrivals from US markets are expected to remain above 2019 levels for the remainder of the year and Japan arrivals will continue to recover as the Japanese exchange rate has been improving during the past few weeks.

On Oʻahu, there were 565,629 visitors in July 2024, compared to 527,811 visitors (+7.2%) in July 2023 and 598,986 visitors (-5.6%) in July 2019. Visitor spending was $960 million in July 2024, compared to $842.6 million (+13.9%) in July 2023 and $749.4 million (+28.1%) in July 2019. The average daily census on Oahu was 130,899 visitors in July 2024, compared to 123,418 visitors (+6.1%) in July 2023 and 135,456 visitors (-3.4%) in July 2019.

On Hawaiʻi Island, there were 171,304 visitors in July 2024, compared to 173,696 visitors (-1.4%) in July 2023 and 173,899 visitors (-1.5%) in July 2019. Visitor spending was $295.6 million in July 2024, compared to $264.9 million (+11.6%) in July 2023 and $221.3 million (+33.6%) in July 2019. The average daily census on Hawaiʻi Island was 40,404 visitors in July 2024, compared to 41,384 visitors (-2.4%) in July 2023 and 39,439 visitors (+2.4%) in July 2019.

On Kauaʻi, there were 135,846 visitors to Kauai in July 2024, compared to 139,863 visitors
(-2.9%) in July 2023 and 139,157 visitors (-2.4%) in July 2019. Visitor spending was $285.9 million in July 2024, compared to $262.6 million (+8.9%) in July 2023 and $201.3 million (+42.0%) in July 2019. The average daily census on Kauaʻi was 32,862 visitors in July 2024, compared to 33,068 visitors (-0.6%) in July 2023 and 33,336 visitors (-1.4%) in July 2019.