HONOLULU – According to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), a total of 735,340 visitors arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in November 2022, representing a 90.9 percent recovery from the same month in 2019. As measured in nominal dollars, these visitors spent $1.52 billion in November 2022, an increase of 13.7 percent compared to the $1.34 billion reported for November 2019.

In November 2022, 725,469 visitors arrived by air service, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Additionally, 9,872 visitors arrived by cruise ships during the month. In comparison, 792,547 visitors arrived by air (-8.5%) and 16,529 visitors came by cruise ships (-40.3%) in November 2019. The average length of stay by all visitors in November 2022 was 9.05 days, up from 8.30 days (+9.1%) in November 2019. The statewide average daily census[1] was 221,809 visitors in November 2022 compared to 223,746 visitors (-0.9%) in November 2019.

In November 2022, 415,610 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, an increase of 10.8 percent compared to 375,244 visitors in November 2019. U.S. West visitors spent $821.5 million in November 2022, up 45.7 percent from $563.8 million in November 2019. Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in November 2022 ($231 per person) was much higher compared to November 2019 ($179 per person, +29.1%).

There were 166,327 visitors from the U.S. East in November 2022, a 10.6 percent growth from the 150,386 visitors in November 2019. U.S. East visitors spent $394.8 million in November 2022, up 28.7 percent from $306.8 million in November 2019. Daily spending by U.S. East visitors in November 2022 ($248 per person) increased in comparison to November 2019 ($221 per person, +12.1%).

There were 27,898 visitors from Japan in November 2022 compared to 131,536 visitors (-78.8%) in November 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $46.3 million in November 2022 compared to $189.4 million (-75.5%) in November 2019. Daily spending by Japanese visitors in November 2022 ($240 per person) was lower compared to November 2019 ($255 per person, -6.1%).

In November 2022, 44,686 visitors arrived from Canada compared to 50,598 visitors (-11.7%) in November 2019. Visitors from Canada spent $110.4 million in November 2022, compared to $98.3 million (+12.3%) in November 2019. Daily spending by Canadian visitors in November 2022 ($199 per person) increased compared to November 2019 ($165 per person, +20.8%).

In November 2022, there were 70,947 visitors from All Other International Markets, which included visitors from Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Guam, Philippines and the Pacific Islands. In comparison, there were 84,783 visitors (-16.3%) from All Other International Markets in November 2019.

In November 2022, a total of 4,716 trans-Pacific flights with 1,026,142 seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands, compared to 4,881 flights (-3.4%) with 1,072,805 (-4.3%) in November 2019.

Through the first 11 months of 2022, total visitor spending was $17.40 billion, up 9.0 percent from $15.96 billion in the first 11 months of 2019. A total of 8,375,977 visitors arrived in the first 11 months of 2022, which was a decrease compared to the first 11 months of 2019 at 9,434,232 visitors (-11.2%).

VIEW FULL NEWS RELEASE AND TABLES

Statement by DBEDT Director Chris J. Sadayasu:

Hawai‘i tourism continued to steadily recover in November with international visitor recovery at 53.7 percent as compared with the same month in 2019; this is the highest international recovery rate since the start of the pandemic in April 2020. The 27,898 visitors from Japan in November 2022 represented the second highest monthly count since the pandemic and the highest recovery rate at 21.2 percent as compared with November 2019.  Year-to-date through November, total visitor count recovered 88.8 percent from the same period in 2019.

While we may experience a slowdown in the U.S. visitors coming into 2023, we hope that more international visitors will be coming in the new year and our tourism recovery continues in 2023. We expect full tourism recovery in 2025.