DBEDT: Visitor arrivals in March were highest since July 2024, showing recovery

Visitor arrivals to Maui in March 2025 were the highest since July 2024, and represented an 86.6% recovery from the same month in 2019, according to preliminary data from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. 

On any given day this past March, Maui saw 59,089 visitors. And throughout the course of the month, the Valley Isle welcomed 235,370 visitors, which was 11% more visitors than it had the same month one year ago.

In total, visitors also spent 11% more in March 2025, compared to March 2024. They spent 21% more in March 2025 than they did in March 2019.

While the state as a whole experienced the second-most visitor arrivals in Hawaiʻi history this past March, Maui continued to lag in visitor arrivals compared to March 2022 and 2023.

On neighboring islands this March, Oʻahu led the state with 526,026 visitors, followed by Maui with 235,370, then Hawaiʻi Island with 157,766 visitors and finally Kauaʻi with 123,555.

Statewide visitor statistics

For the entire state, total visitor arrivals and total visitor spending in March 2025 increased in comparison to March 2024. It was also the “second-best” March in Hawaiʻi history (the “best” March was in 2019 with 928,849 visitors).

According to the DBEDT, there were 903,891 visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in March 2025, up 3% from the same month last year. Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars was $1.99 billion, growth of 10.3% from March 2024. When compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, March 2025 total visitor arrivals represent a 97.3% recovery from March 2019 and total visitor spending was significantly higher than March 2019 ($1.49 billion, +33.8%).

“The growth of the US market is offset by the decline in the international markets and resulted in a net 10.3% growth in visitor expenditures,” DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said. “US visitor arrivals have been continuously surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels since September 2023. US total visitor spending has been exceeding pre-pandemic levels since May 2021.”

Tokioka noted that visitor arrivals from the continental US had double-digit growth and offset the decrease of 16.9% from Canada. He said the cruise industry continued to grow in March 2025, with visitor arrivals via out-of-state cruise ships increasing 6.6% in the first quarter of this year.

First quarter of 2025

During the first quarter of 2025, the state saw 2,455,747 visitor arrivals, which was a 1.7% increase from the first quarter of 2024. Total arrivals declined 2.8% when compared to the first quarter of 2019. Total visitor spending in the first quarter of 2025 was $5.61 billion, which was an increase compared to the first quarter of 2024 ($5.27 billion, +6.5%) and first quarter of 2019 ($4.49 billion, +24.9%).