In January 2024, total visitor arrivals to Hawaii (763,480 visitors, -3.6%) and total visitor expenditures measured in nominal dollars ($1.81 billion, -4.5%) decreased in compared to January 2023, according to preliminary statistics from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).
Since the Maui wildfires in August 2023, total visitor arrivals have declined in five of the last six months, while total visitor spending has seen six consecutive months of decline since 2023. Compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019 ., total visitor arrivals in January 2024 represented a 93.4 percent recovery from January 2019 and total visitor spending was higher than January 2019 ($1.62 billion, +11.9%).
In January 2024, 745,644 visitors arrived by air, mainly from the US West and East. Additionally, 17,836 visitors came on out-of-state cruise ships. In comparison, 775,132 visitors (-3.8%) arrived by air and 16,648 visitors (+7.1%) came by cruise ship in January 2023, and 805,567 visitors (-7.4%) arrived by air and 12,033 visitors (+48.2%) came by cruise ship in January 2019.
The average length of stay of all visitors in January 2024 was 9.85 days, compared to 10.16 days (-3.0%) in January 2023 and 9.94 days (-0.9%) in January 2019. The nationwide average daily count was 242,700 visitors in January 2024, compared to 259,514 visitors (-6.5%) in January 2023 and 262,235 visitors (-7.4%) in January 2019
In January 2024, 356,174 visitors arrived from the US West, a decrease from January 2023 (383,351 visitors, -7.1%) but an increase compared to January 2019 (317,655 visitors, + 12.1%). Visitor spending in the US West of $768.2 million was down from January 2023 ($804.4 million, -4.5%), but much higher than January 2019 ($556.7 million dollars, +38.0%). Daily spending by visitors from the US West in January 2024 ($231 per person) was higher than in January 2023 ($222 per person, +4.3%) and significantly more than in January 2019 ($180 per person, +28.5%).
In January 2024, US Eastern arrivals of 192,490 visitors were down from January 2023 (213,286 visitors, -9.8%) but up from January 2019 (185,253 visitors, +3.9%). US Eastern visitor spending of $579.0 million was down from January 2023 ($618.9 million, -6.4%), but much higher than January 2019 ($462.9 million dollars, +25.1%). Daily spending by visitors from the US East in January 2024 ($261 per person) was up from January 2023 ($255 per person, +2.4%) and significantly more than in January 2019 ($216 per person , +20.7%).
In January 2024, there were 52,911 visitors from Japan, a significant increase compared to January 2023 (32,305 visitors, +63.8%), but still much less than January 2019 (120,418 visitors, -56.1%). Visitors from Japan spent $78.8 million in January 2024, compared to $58.1 million (+35.6%) in January 2023 and $173.4 million (-54.5%) in January 2019 .Japanese visitor daily spending in January 2024 ($240 per person) was more than in January 2023 ($237 per person, +1.1%) and was similar to January 2019 ($240 per person, 0 .0%).
In January 2024, 54,002 visitors arrived from Canada, down from January 2023 (56,501 visitors, -4.4%) and January 2019 (69,687 visitors, -22.5%) . Visitors from Canada spent $155.3 million in January 2024, compared to $154.4 million (+0.5%) in January 2023 and $165.4 million (-6.2%) in January 2019 .Daily spending by Canadian visitors in January 2024 ($224 per person) was more than in January 2023 ($206 per person, +9.0%) and January 2019 ($167 per person, +34, 4%).
There were 90,068 visitors from all other international markets in January 2024, which included visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands. In comparison, there were 89,689 visitors (+0.4%) from all other international markets in January 2023 and 112,554 visitors (-20.0%) in January 2019.
A total of 4,884 transpacific flights with 1,100,758 seats served Hawaii in January 2024, down from 5,211 flights (-6.3%) with 1,156,026 seats (-4.8%) in January 2024 and 5,158 flights (-5.3%) with 1,134,182 seats (-2.9%) in January 2019.
