D. Tourism

1st Quarter 2024 Report

Download Tourism Data Tables (spreadsheet)

International visitor arrivals continued to increase, while domestic visitor arrivals further decreased in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The total number of visitor arrivals by air decreased 38,481 or 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter of 2022 (Table D-2). The total average daily census decreased by 11,047 or 4.7 percent in the quarter. In 2023, total visitor arrivals by air increased 349,804 or 3.8 percent, while the average daily census increased 2,356 or 1.0 percent from the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, total visitor arrivals on domestic flights decreased 152,114 or 7.7 percent compared to the same quarter of 2022 (Table D-3). In 2023, domestic arrivals were down 293,888 or 3.6 percent from the previous year.

Arrivals on international flights increased 113,633 or 33.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 (Table D-4). In 2023, international arrivals increased 643,692 or 71.1 percent from the previous year.

In terms of major market areas, from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the same period of 2023, arrivals from the U.S. West decreased 101,435 or 8.0 percent (Table D-5); arrivals from the U.S. East decreased 42,762 or 7.5 percent (Table D-6); and arrivals from Japan increased 105,062 or 123.2 percent (Table D-7). In 2023, arrivals from the U.S. West were down 278,455 or 5.3 percent; arrivals from the U.S. East were down 41,976 or 1.7 percent; and Japanese arrivals were up 380,417 or 197.6 percent from the previous year.

The total average daily visitor census was down 4.7 percent or 11,047 visitors per day in the fourth quarter of 2023, over the same quarter of 2022 (Table D-8). The domestic average daily census decreased 8.9 percent or 17,512 visitors per day (Table D-9), while the international average daily census increased 18.1 percent or 6,465 visitors per day (Table D-10). In 2023, the domestic average daily census decreased 9,966 or 4.8 percent and the international average daily census increased 12,352 or 47.6 percent from the previous year.

Nominal visitor expenditures by air totaled $4,964.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of $94.8 million or 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022 (Table D-11). In 2023, visitor expenditures totaled $20,708.0 million, an increase of $1,054.4 million or 5.4 percent from the previous year.

Total airline capacity, as measured by the number of available seats flown to Hawaii, increased 0.5 percent or 16,090 seats (Table D-12) in the fourth quarter of 2023; domestic seats decreased 4.1 percent or 108,450 seats (Table D-13); international seats increased 22.4 percent or 124,540 seats (Table D-14), compared to the same quarter of 2022. In 2023, the number of total available seats increased 2.9 percent or 372,812 seats; domestic seats decreased 3.6 percent or 399,457 seats; and international seats increased 46.7 percent or 772,269 seats from the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the statewide hotel occupancy rate averaged 73.2 percent, 0.1 percentage point lower than that of the same quarter of 2022 (Table D-15). In 2023, the statewide hotel occupancy rate averaged 74.7 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Readers interested in visitor statistics on a monthly basis can find them on the DBEDT website at: https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/visitor/tourism/ and those interested in daily passenger arrival data may access them at: https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/visitor/daily-passenger-counts/.