HONOLULU — Tourists are turning from Kauai.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, visitor spending on Kauai in April totaled $134.2 million, a 14.8% decline from $157.4 million in April 2018. Through the first four months of 2019, visitor spending totaled $617.7 million, down 6.7% from the same time frame last year.
Visitor arrivals on Kauai for April totaled 106,009, down 4.8 percent from 111,304 in April 2018. For the year through April, Kauai has welcomed 439,971 visitors, down 2.2% from the same time frame last year.
The theme of decreased spending is statewide.
Visitors to the islands spent a total of $1.3 billion in April, a decrease of 6.2% compared to the same month last year, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the HTA.
Total visitor arrivals rose 6.6% to 856,250 visitors in April, supported by growth in arrivals from both air (plus 5.8% to 831,445) and cruise ships (plus 46.3% to 24,805). Total visitor days increased 3.4%.
Among the four larger islands, visitor spending on Oahu decreased (-1.2% to $626.8 million) in April despite growth in visitor arrivals (+8.7% to 494,192) compared to a year ago. This was also true for Maui, as visitor spending declined (-4.6% to $394.4 million) while arrivals increased (+5.2% to 249,076).
The island of Hawaii recorded decreases in both visitor spending (-20.5% to $154.8 million) and visitor arrivals (-14.2% to 131,499).
Tourism on Kauai has taken a hit due to the flooding on the North Shore last year, following record April rains that damaged Kuhio Highway. As a result, popular sites like Tunnels Beach and Ke‘e Beach remain off-limits to the general public.
Kuhio Highway just before the Hanalei Bridge has been reduced to one lane due to slope-stabilization work being carried out by the state following mudslides in early May.
The lane closure, expected to continue for months, well into the critical summer season, has created delays — sometimes not even a minute and sometimes longer — reaching Hanalei, prompting some people to stay away.
Kuhio Highway is expected to reopen in mid-June.
I wonder if the calculus of such severe lost visitor dollars for the entire island is understood at the level of island political leadership—and those responsible for repairs and remediations to the North Shore? Surely if this kind of loss had been anticipated, as well as the loss of sales and tax revenues from impacted North Shore businesses—funds and resources could have been marshaled with greater urgency….right? Right? …Oh wait, this is Kauai, and it’s being done on Kauai time. Back to sleep. Zzzzzz.
Congratulations, Kauai! You have gotten your hearts’ desire….now time to get back to those ‘good ol’ plantation days.
Of course tourism is down on Kauai……….and it will continue, if visitors are not going to be allowed to the North Shore even when the roads open! and for visitors to have to make reservations for parking, is ridiculous! When someone is in vacation, they are not going to plan ahead for what they are doing each day, and especially when weather can change. You are ruining this for all tourists! For years, promoting Kauai was important………..now you want to deter people from coming and spending money on your island! As someone who has been coming for 32 years,nearly every year, I do recognize the difference with crowded beaches and such, but trying to keep out tourists is insane! Those of us mainlanders who have invested into vacation rentals/timeshares are getting a raw deal
Karen G I’m sorry you’ve never had to plan out your vacation in advance and will have to now, but a lot of places around the world that have become popular tourist destinations have had to come up with some sort of limitation in order to preserve the integrity of the places. Kauai is not alone in this. I’ve been living here for 25 years, and the increase in tourism in that time has definitely made places like Ke’e and Haena less desirable to visit, even just from across the island. Something needed to be done. Many state parks and most national parks require advanced bookings for entry so this should not be a new concept. Also, a lot of people DO plan out their vacations well in advance (I work in reservations for a local tour company), and if that’s the cost of keeping the place pristine and overcrowded then so be it. No one is saying you can’t go here, you just can’t go on a whim anymore.
I do plan my vacations almost a year in advance, and have done so for 30 years. I just don’t plan my day-to-day trips to the beach ahead of time, it all depends on weather, and what I have been doing each day, when I visit for 3 weeks. The reason for coming to Kauai is to have a stress-free, relaxed vacation and to be able to enjoy the beach. Will I need to reserved a parking pass for every day of my 3 weeks, so I can go when I want? I agree with “Gardener”………… Don’t come to Kauai, visitors are now despised! Such a shame!
Maybe tourists are thinking “if we’re going to visit the Phillipines, might as well keep flying all the way to Manila.”
Hi mina. Nice to hear from you. 😊
County Council Responsible for Lost Tax Revenues! The Blind Leading the Blind!
This administration inherited a mess. Period. The last administration did little that was constructive on the north shore and left a mess with his initial handling of the April 2018 disaster. The may is getting things done. The mayor, although grudgingly, stepped up and let the tvr’s in Haena operate. He took a big hit but it was the right thing to do. That tells me he’s somewhat business oriented in his policy. There’s a lot of people who chastised him on the county website too. He’s out and about and he’s healthy, young and ambitious. He’s as accessible to a degree and his team are good people. The culture at planning will change eventually. Any loss can not be anticipated. In this case there’s more to the numbers than meets the eye. Tourist spending is down 14% year to year for April. If everything was perfect with the roads it would still seem slower because 2018 was still a record year in arrivals due to some geo political issues according to Sue Kanoho. Combine that with the fallout from the Buffalo Flood it’s a hit. The Hanalei hillside repairs will be an inconvenience but I’ll bet there won’t be a lot of heavy jams. The state DOT learned from the Haena road disaster repairs. Same guys doing this fix. In actuality traffic wise looking back we might see it was the perfect time to take care of the hillside there.
Kauai wen went sustainable brah. Sustainable tourism stay da way to go bruddah. So if you no can den you no can eh…. As my friend below says. “Might as well keep going to the Philippines eh?” There stay no promises in life. Be grateful and don’t expect anything you won’t feel so bad. No raw deal Life brah. Aloha
Dear tourists,
The north Shore is closed…the local residents despise you…the traffic is beyond ridiculous…there is a homeless person behind every bush…the ocean is polluted….don’t come
Found this article, since I have been visiting the big island and maui and it seemed a little bit slower than past visits. Visited Kauai once and would not go back. Locals were super ugly. Worst part about it is that it wasn’t the Hawaiians that ruined the experience, mostly first/second generation immigrants from the mainland (read white people) or elsewhere in the pacific.