LIHU‘E — Preliminary visitor statistics show that visitor spending this past November hit around $1.18 billion, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).
Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic and Hawai‘i’s quarantine requirements for travelers, the State of Hawai‘i achieved record-level visitor expenditures and arrivals in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020.
November 2021 visitor spending was lower compared to the $1.34 billion, which is down 11.5%, as compared to November 2019. Comparative total spending statistics for November 2020 were not available as data were from U.S. West and U.S. East visitors only.
November 2020 spending data by visitors from other markets were unavailable because of limited fielding due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A total of 613,391 visitors arrived by air service to the Hawaiian Islands in November 2021, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East.
In November 2021, passengers arriving from out-of-state could bypass the state’s mandatory 10-day self-quarantine if they were fully vaccinated in the United States or with a valid negative COVID-19 NAAT test result from a Trusted Testing Partner prior to their departure through the Safe Travels program.
The average daily census was 190,924 visitors in November 2021, compared to 76,203 in November 2020, versus 223,746 in November 2019.
Through the first 11 months of 2021, total visitor spending was $11.34 billion.
“We are pleased to see Hawai‘i’s tourism industry’s continued improvement in November,” DBEDT Director Mike McCartney said. “Visitors from the U.S. markets continued to surpass the 2019 levels with overall U.S. market recovery for the first 11 months at 92.8% for expenditures and 63.9% for arrivals.”
A total of 6,023,827 visitors arrived in the first 11 months of 2021, more than double the arrival count of 2,471,683 visitors from the same period last year.
Total visitor arrivals decreased 36.1% compared to the 9,434,232 visitors in the first 11 months of 2019.
“Demand for travel to the Hawaiian Islands remains strong, as evidenced by these November numbers,” HTA President and CEO John De Fries said. “While the situation with COVID continues to evolve globally, as more people continue to get vaccinated and boosted, we look forward to welcoming back our international visitors in 2022.
The stabilization of the visitor industry continues, and its recovery is an important part of Hawai‘i’s economy that supports thousands of kama‘aina families.”
