LIHU‘E — The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism continued to see high increases in visitor spending on Kaua‘i — and throughout the state — according to its most recent monthly report.
The report, released last week, showed that visitors to Kauai spent over $62 million more during March 2023 compared with March 2022.
More specifically, visitor spending on Kauai was $222.5 million in March 2023, compared with $159.9 million in March 2022, and $152.6 million in pre-pandemic March 2019. That marked an increase of 39.1 percent and 45.8 percent in the respective periods, according to the report.
The total number of visitors on Kaua‘i during that period was up 15 percent from the previous year, and just 0.2 percent under pre-pandemic March 2019. There were a total of 122,585 visitors to Kaua‘i in March 2023, compared with 106,544 in March 2022, and 122,876 in March 2019.
The monthly report showed in-depth data from across the state for March 2023, comparing the numbers to March 2022 and March 2019. The report showed similar increases across the three other major Hawaiian islands.
O‘ahu saw the most visitors, with 487,393 visitors in March 2023, compared with 404,274 in March 2022 and 523,904 in March 2019. That’s a 20.6 percent increase from 2022, but 7 percent less than March 2019.
Maui had the second-highest number of visitors with 276,485 visitors in March 2023, compared with 239,538 in March 2022 and 271,934 in March 2019. That marked a 15.4 percent increase when compared to March 2022, as well as a 1.7 percent increase from March 2019.
Hawai‘i Island drew 161,172 visitors in March 2023, compared with 141,854 in March 2022 and 161,087 in March 2019. The most recent total represents a 13.6 percent increase from 2022 and a 1.7 percent increase from 2019.
The data from the state as a whole shows that visitors to Hawai‘i spent a total of $1.84 billion in March 2023, compared with $1.53 billion in March 2022 — a 20.4 percent increase. The most recent total also surpassed pre-pandemic March 2019 by 23.4 percent, when spending totaled $1.49 billion.
The total number of visitors in March 2023 was 900,800, representing a 14.2 percent increase from March 2022’s total of 788,931 visitors. The most recent total also represents a 97 percent recovery from March 2019’s total of 939,064 visitors.
Chris J. Sadayasu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism, commented on the data in a statement that accompanied the monthly report.
“The tourism industry was busy in March 2023 with over 900,000 visitors, the second-highest monthly figure in the last three years,” said Sadayasu.
He also noted an increase in international visitors, as well as strong numbers from the U.S. mainland.
“While U.S. visitor arrivals remained high, visitation from international markets was the highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, at 182,478 arrivals, and represented a 62.4 percent recovery from the same month in 2019. Arrivals from Japan and Canada in March were at the highest volumes since the beginning of the pandemic,” he said.
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached at 808-652-0638.
