Visitor Industry on Maui experiences continued recovery in January 2023

There were 228,743 visitors to Maui in January 2023, up nearly 25% from the 183,278 visitors who arrived in January 2022, and down -2% from the 233,422 visitors who came in January 2019.

The preliminary data was compiled by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Visitor spending on Maui was $625.2 million in January 2023, compared to $424.5 million in January 2022 (+47.3%) and $474.2 million (+31.8%) in January 2019.

The average daily census on Maui was 67,892 visitors in January 2023, compared to 57,743 visitors (+17.6%) in January 2022 and 69,854 visitors (-2.8%) in January 2019, according to the report.

DBEDT Director Chris J. Sadayasu said, “The tourism industry had a good start in 2023 with nearly a 97% recovery in arrivals. International visitors by air in January 2023 accounted for 23% of the total visitors by air – the highest since the start of the pandemic. January 2023 was the second-best month for arrivals from Japan and Canada for 34 months. The same was true for cruise ship arrivals during the month.”

“With the recovery of tourism, especially international tourism, those businesses that rely on international visitors will experience a better year in 2023, although full recovery may take a few years,” said Sadayasu.

Statewide, a total of 791,781 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in January 2023, up 37.9% from January 2022, according to preliminary DBEDT visitor statistics.

When compared to 2019, the benchmark year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a 96.8% recovery in total visitor arrivals from January 2019.

As measured in nominal dollars, these visitors spent $1.89 billion in January 2023, compared to $1.40 billion (+35.5%) in January 2022 and $1.62 billion (+17.2%) January 2019. 

In January 2023, 775,132 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the US West and US East. Additionally, 16,648 visitors arrived by cruise ships during the month. The average length of stay by all visitors in January 2023 was 10.16 days, compared to 10.91 days (-6.9%) in January 2022 and 9.94 days (+2.2%) in January 2019.

There were 32,305 visitors from Japan in January 2023, compared to 2,850 visitors (+1,033.6%) in January 2022 and 120,418 visitors (-73.2%) in January 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $58.1 million in January 2023, compared to $11.6 million (+401.1%) in January 2022 and $173.4 million (-66.5%) in January 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in January 2023 ($237 per person) increased compared to January 2022 ($216 per person, +9.7%), but was slightly lower than January 2019 ($240 per person, -1.0%).

IIn January 2023, a total of 5,335 trans-Pacific flights with 1,182,832 seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands. This was an increase compared to 4,943 flights (+7.9%) with 1,036,920 seats (+4.1%) in January 2022, and from 5,158 flights (+3.4%) with 1,134,182 (+4.3%) in January 2019.