DBEDT report: September visitor arrivals up from last year, but not at pre-pandemic levels

Maui visitor arrivals in September are up dramatically, compared to last year, a month after the August 2023 wildfires, according to a monthly report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. But the rebound has not reached pre-pandemic levels.

The department reported 164,932 visitor arrivals on Maui in September 2024, up 77.3% from September 2023 (93,027 visitors), a month after the August 2023 wildfires. The September 2024 arrivals, however, are down 21.5% from September 2019 (210,108 visitors), before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visitor spending increased to $364.6 million in September 2024, compared to $203.9 million (+78.8%) in September 2023 and $339.7 million (+7.3%) in September 2019. The average daily census on Maui was 41,247 visitors in September 2024, compared to 23,619 visitors (+74.6%) in September 2023 and 52,053 visitors (-20.8%) in September 2019.

In the first nine months of 2024, there were 1,739,257 visitors to Maui compared to 2,000,554 visitors (-13.1%) in the first nine months of 2023 and 2,314,113 visitors (-24.8%) in the first nine months of 2019. For the first nine months of 2024, total visitor spending was $3.88 billion, compared to $4.62 billion (-15.9%) in the first nine months of 2023 and $3.86 billion (+0.6%) in the first nine months of 2019.

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For the state overall, total visitor arrivals in September 2024 represent a 96.1% recovery from pre-pandemic September 2019, the best recovery rate since the Maui wildfires (not including February 2024, which had a leap day), DBEDT reported.

Total nominal visitor spending increased 16.3% compared to September 2019. Preliminary statistics show there were 707,486 visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in September 2024, up 7.8% from the same month last year. Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars was $1.45 billion, growth of 4.6% from September 2023.

In September 2024, 688,831 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the US West and US East. Additionally, 18,655 visitors arrived via out-of-state cruise ships. In comparison, 648,145 visitors (+6.3%) arrived by air and 8,143 visitors (+129.1%) came by cruise ships in September 2023, and 718,042 visitors (-4.1%) came by air and 18,114 visitors (+3.0%) came by cruise ships in September 2019.

The average length of stay by all visitors in September 2024 was 8.23 days, which was shorter than September 2023 (8.61 days, -4.4%) and September 2019 (8.40 days, -2%). The statewide average daily census was 194,156 visitors in September 2024, compared to 188,319 visitors (+3.1%) in September 2023 and 206,169 visitors (-5.8%) in September 2019.

DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said the leading contributor to the September 2024 tourism industry performance was the US market with 519,987 visitors and registered as the second highest September visitor count on record (the highest September number occurred in 2022 with 566,189 visitors).

The September 2024 U.S. visitor count was 18.4% higher than the same month in 2019, he said. For the first nine months of 2024, the US visitor count was 6% higher than the same period in 2019.

Tokioka said the rebound of Hawai‘i’s cruise industry, which has surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels, was also a contributing factor in September’s performance.

Nine out-of-state cruise ships brought 18,655 visitors to the islands in September 2024, more than double the number of visitors who came by cruise ships in September 2023 and 3% higher than September 2019, he said. For the first nine months of 2024, there were 58 arrivals from out-of-state cruise ships that carried more than 106,000 visitors, a growth of 11.5% compared to year-to-date 2019.

“Current airlift and travel agency bookings data indicate that the US market will still be leading Hawai‘i’s tourism recovery in the future months,” Tokioka said. “We expect that the foreign exchange rate will be more favorable to foreign visitors and the international market will improve in the near future. During the first nine months of 2024, the recovery of foreign visitors was at 63.6%, while Japanese visitor recovery was at 44.5%.”