Visitor spending in record territory on Kaua‘i

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Shoppers browsed through the Nataliearth offerings of landscape and diving photographs and hand-made jewelry during The Beach House Craft Fair on Sunday, July 28, 2024.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Laura Cristobal Andersland, of The Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Salts, was kept busy explaining her product line to a steady stream of shoppers on Saturday, July 27, 2024, during the Koloa Plantation Days Park Celebration craft fair.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Shoppers crowded a vendor’s table offering the latest Pokemon-themed novelties during the bon dance at the Kapa‘a Hongwanji Mission on Friday, July 26, 2024.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

A shopper browsed through the assortment of plumeria floral pieces on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, during the Polynesian Revue at the Po‘ipu Shopping Village that was celebrated as part of the weeklong Koloa Plantation Days festival.

LIHU‘E — There may have been fewer tourists on the island of Kaua‘i in the first half of the year, but the people who did visit spent a record amount of money in the period.

Total visitor spending weighed in at $1.47 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with $1.33 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, and $963.6 million in the pre-pandemic, six-month period ended June 30, 2019.

That marked increases of 10.4 percent and 52.5 percent, respectively, according to a monthly report from the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism (DBEDT). The report was released on Tuesday.

The spending gains were posted amid decreases in the number of people who visited the island.

A total of 682,022 visitors were recorded on the island in the first half of the year, compared with 693,618 in the first half of 2023 and 686,539 in the first half of 2019. That marked decreases of 1.7 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Across the Hawaiian Island chain, visitor spending was mixed on O‘ahu and Maui, but sharply higher on Hawai‘i Island.

Total visitor spending on O‘ahu was $4.40 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with $4.41 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, and $4.02 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2019. That marked a drop of 0.1 percent and a gain of 9.4 percent, respectively.

There were 2,855,592 visitors to O‘ahu in the first half of the year, compared with 2,742,970 in the first half of 2023 and 3,025,236 in the first half of 2019 for a gain of 4.1 percent and a drop of 5.6 percent, respectively.

Total visitor spending on Maui was $2.64 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with $3.47 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, and $2.61 billion in the six-month period end June 30, 2019. That marked a decrease of 24.0 percent and an increase of 1.3 percent, respectively.

There were 1,132,234 visitors to Maui in the first half of the year, compared with 1,485,757 in the first half of 2023 and 1,522,534 in the first half of 2019 for decreases of 23.8 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively.

Total visitor spending on Hawai‘i Island was $1.63 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with $1.43 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, and $1.16 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2019. That marked gains of 13.7 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively.

There were 866,173 visitors to Hawai‘i Island in the first half of the year, compared with 880,486 in the first half of 2023 and 880,361 in the first half of 2019. That marked decreases of 1.6 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

All told, visitor spending in Hawai‘i was down 4.8 percent in the six-month period ended June 30, when compared with the same six-month period of 2023, while visitor arrivals were off 3.7 percent over the same time frame.

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