Tourism on the Rise in Hawaii

There’s always Hawaii.

One of the stalwarts of U.S. tourism, visitors spent $1.5 billion in the Hawaiian Islands in August of this year, a 6.3 percent increase from the same time period in August of 2018.

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The Hawaii Tourism Authority did note that the August results from a year ago were partially impacted by concerns related to Hurricane Lane and the Kilauea eruption.

Nonetheless, there was an increase, and it was fueled by visitors from the United States.

In August, visitor spending increased from the west region of the U.S. (up 17.1 percent year over year to $578.6 million); from the east region of the U.S. (up 15.8 percent to $383.5 million); and from Canada (up 8.2 percent to $57.3 million).

Tourism from Japan to Hawaii declined 1.2 percent, or $225.4 million, in August. And tourism from all other international markets dropped 16 percent to $256.8 million compared to a year ago.

Total visitor arrivals increased 9.8 percent to 928,178 visitors in August and, ironically, all visitor arrivals were via airlines. No out-of-state cruise ships visited Hawaii in August of this year.

Visitors spent the most money on the island of Hawaii, followed by Maui, Oahu and Kauai.

Year-to-date through August, total visitor spending was flat compared to last year, down just a half-percent to $12.08 billion.

Tourism dollars from the Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) helped to fund numerous community events and initiatives across the state in August, including the Okinawan Festival, Duke’s OceanFest, the AVPFirst youth volleyball clinics on six islands, the Kauai Marathon and Half Marathon and the Emma Farden Sharpe Hula Festival.