Hawaii’s June 2022 Visitor Numbers Highest Since January 2020

Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) today released preliminary visitor statistics, which revealed that the Aloha State

received a total of 842,927 visitors during the month of June 2022, representing an 89 percent recovery from June 2019 volumes.

While the recovery rate for tourist arrivals was slower than the two months previous, June’s visitor count was still the second-best seen since January 2020, just before the full impact of the pandemic was felt.

Hawaii’s June 2022 arrivals and visitor spending, broken down by market:

— 841,809 of June’s total visitors arrived by air, primarily from the West and East U.S., with another 1,118 arriving by cruise ships. By comparison, June 2019 saw 947,112 visitors (-11 percent) 946,373 of whom arrived by air (-11 percent) and 738 by cruise ships (+51.5 percent).

— The average length of stay in June 2022 was 9.44 days, up from 8.80 days (+7.2 percent) in June 2019.

— The average daily number of visitors present in the state was 265,157 in June 2022, in comparison to 277,930 (-4.6 percent) in June 2019.

— From the Western U.S., 498,358 visitors arrived by air in June 2022, representing a 10-percent increase over June 2019’s 452,958 visitors. Visitors from this market spent $963.3 million last month, up 39.4 percent from $691.2 million in June 2019. The average daily spending of $215 per person was also considerably higher compared to June 2019 ($171 per person, +25.9 percent).

— From the Eastern U.S., 249,684 visitors arrived in June 2022, up 3.9 percent in comparison to June 2019’s 240,223 visitors. This market’s visitors spent $662.5 million last month, an increase of 34.9 percent over June 2019’s $491.1 million. Average daily spending by visitors from the Eastern U.S. was $260 per person in June 2022, representing a significant increase (+24 percent) over the $210 per person recorded in June 2019.

— June 2022 saw 11,940 travelers come from Japan, compared to 126,592 visitors (-90.6 percent) from the same source market in June 2019. Japanese tourists spent $24.3 million in June 2022, versus the total of $182 million (-86.7 percent) spent by visitors from the same market back in June 2019. June 2022’s average daily spending by Japanese visitors ($244 per person) was slightly lower (-1.9 percent) in comparison to June 2019 ($248 per person).

— 15,634 visitors arrived from Canada last month, as compared to 19,172 visitors (-18.5 percent) that arrived in June 2019. Canadian tourists spent a total of $34.4 million in June 2022, versus the $36.1 million (-4.6 percent) spent by Canadian market travelers in June 2019. Canadian visitors’ average daily spending in June 2022 ($196 per person) increased by 22.5 percent, compared to the same month three years prior ($160 per person).

— All Other International Markets (including Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, Philippines and the Pacific Islands) provided a combined total of 66,193 visitors in June 2022, versus the 107,428 visitors (-38.4 percent)that originated from All Other International Markets in June 2019.

— A total of 5,069 trans-Pacific flights, representing 1,049,608 airplane seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands, as compared to 5,399 flights with 1,182,276 seats in June 2019.

— Total visitor spending for the first half of 2022 added up to $9.23 billion, up 4.2 percent from the $8.86 billion in spending seen during the first half of 2019. During the first half of this year, a total of 4,431,332 visitors arrived in Hawaii, representing a 14.3-percent decrease from 5,171,182 visitors who arrived in the first half of 2019.

Regarding the new data, Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) President and CEO John De Fries remarked, “This significant shift indicates our current visitors are spending substantially more on their Hawaii trip, counter to the misperception that we are seeing a lower-spending, budget traveler. Even with these higher-spending visitors, we must continue our efforts in destination management to ensure the balance of economic benefits with environmental and community wellbeing.”