LIHU‘E — A dip in visitors couldn’t put a damper on the spending power people brought to the island of Kaua‘i in the final month of 2022.
LIHU‘E — A dip in visitors couldn’t put a damper on the spending power people brought to the island of Kaua‘i in the final month of 2022.
Visitor spending climbed to $191.6 million in December 2022 from $175.1 million in pre-pandemic December 2019. That marked an increase of 9.4 percent in the period, according to a monthly report from the state Department of
Business, Economic Development &Tourism.
At the same time, the number of visitors who set foot on the island eased 2.2 percent to 121,653 from 124,356.
Spending and count patterns were similar on the three other islands featured in the department’s monthly report.
Visitor spending on O‘ahu increased 7.8 percent to $839.1 million in December 2022 from $778.4 million in December 2019, while the number of visitors sank 12.8 percent to 486,748 from 558,346.
Visitor spending on Maui surged 8.6 percent to $557 million in December 2022 from $513.1 million in December 2019. At the same time, the number of visitors slipped 5.9 percent to 259,094 from 275,419.
Visitor spending on Hawai‘i Island rose 7.6 percent to $282.4 million in December 2022 from $262.4 million in December 2019, while the visitor count dropped 11.1 percent to 158,127 from 177,912.
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Wyatt Haupt Jr., editor, can be reached at 808-245-0457 or whaupt@thegardenisland.com.
