LIHU‘E — Tourists continued to spend huge sums of money on the island of Kaua‘i this year, as visitor spending eclipsed the $200 million mark for the ninth straight month in September.
Total visitor spending weighed in at $224.2 million in September, compared with $174.0 million in September 2022 and $132.0 million in pre-pandemic September 2019.
That marked increases of 28.9 percent and 69.8 percent, respectively, according to a monthly report from the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism (DBEDT).
The stout gains in spending came amid a healthy rise in the visitor count, which swelled to 115,305 in September. That was up from 104,499 in September 2022 and from 93,501 in September 2019 for increases of 10.3 percent and 23.3 percent, respectively.
Neighbor islands
Visitor spending was mixed across the island chain, largely because of the deadly wildfire that devastated Lahaina on Aug. 8 and claimed the lives of at least 99 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. There were also a number of other wildfires on the Valley Isle on Aug. 8.
As a result, visitor spending on Maui tumbled to $203.2 million in September from $428.3 million in September 2022 and $339.7 in September 2019. That marked decreases of 52.6 percent and 40.2 percent, respectively.
“The impacts from the Maui wildfires were significant in September 2023 with both visitor arrivals and visitor expenditures down by more than 50 percent for Maui for the month compared to 2022,” said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka in a statement that accompanied the monthly report.
But, he said, with the reopening of West Maui in October, the belief is that the tourism industry “will improve over the next few months.”
Spending on O‘ahu dipped to $676.6 million in September from $699.0 in September 2022, but was up from $607.3 million in September 2019. That marked a drop of 3.2 percent and a gain of 11.4 percent, respectively.
Spending on Hawai‘i Island improved to $254.8 million in September from $198.0 million in September 2022 and $145.9 million in September 2019. That marked increases of 28.7 percent and 74.7 percent, respectively.
