Post-wildfire: Tourism rebounding, but slowly

Twenty-three months after devastating wildfires struck West Maui and Upcountry, visitors are returning to the island, although not yet at levels seen before the disaster.

“As we approach the two-year anniversary of the Maui wildfires, tourism on the island continues to improve, but the pace has been slow,” said James Kunane Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “Visitor arrivals to Maui in the first half of 2025 rose 11.2% from a year ago, but decreased 17% in comparison to the first half of pre-pandemic 2019. Governor Josh Green recently released $6.3 million to support a tourism recovery campaign.”

He added: “We are so excited that the Los Angeles Rams staged a preseason football camp on Maui from June 16 to June 19, 2025. Rams players and staff hosted a number of community events, including football clinics and a practice session to mālama Maui. The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority is working with the Rams organization on a year-long Los Angeles market activation campaign to promote tourism on Maui.”

Key metrics for Maui tourism in June:

• Total visitors: 227,120 Maui visitors, 5.1% more than June 2024; but 23.3% less than June 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Visitor spending: $510.6 million in June 2025, 13% more than $451.7 million the same month a year earlier and 7% more than $477.1 million in June 2019.
• Average daily census on Maui: 57,742 visitors, 3.2% more than last year, but 24% less than 2019.
• In the first half of 2025, there were 1,268,378 visitors to Maui, compared to 1,140,307 visitors (+11.2%) in the first half of 2024 and 1,522,534 visitors (-16.7%) in the first half of 2019.
• For the first half of 2025, total visitor spending was $2.97 billion, compared to $2.66 billion (+11.6%) in the first half of 2024 and $2.61 billion (+13.8%) in the first half of 2019.

For tourism overall in the state, Tokioka said: “We are encouraged to see continued growth in visitor spending in June 2025. However, like many destinations, Hawai‘i is also experiencing a slowdown in visitor traffic. In June 2025, visitor arrivals decreased 1.8% compared to the same month last year. Fewer visitors from US East and continued declines from Canada and other international markets offset a modest growth in US West arrivals.”

For a comprehensive report on statewide tourism statistics for June, click here.