Visitor spending tops $200 million again

LIHU‘E — Visitor spending cracked the $200 million barrier for the 11th straight month in November, as tourists continued to funnel record sums of cash into the island of Kaua‘i economy in 2023.

Total visitor spending measured $212.7 million in November 2023, compared with $161.6 million in November 2022 and $135.9 million in pre-pandemic November 2019.

Those figures represented increases of 31.6 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively, according to a monthly report from the state of Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism (DBEDT).

The hike in spending came amid solid gains in the visitor count to 106,907 in November 2023 from 101,783 in November 2022 and 103,783 in November 2019. Those figures marked increases of 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Neighbor islands

Visitor spending was a mixed bag across the Hawaiian Island chain, in large part because of a deadly wildfire on Aug. 8, 2023, that devastated the town of Lahaina on Maui and claimed at least 100 lives. There were also a number of other wildfires on the Valley Isle on Aug. 8.

As a result, visitor spending slumped to $375.5 million in November 2023 from $451.2 million in November 2022 and $377.9 million in November 2019. That marked decreases of 16.8 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, on Maui.

“The impact of the Maui wildfires continues to be felt in November’s figures, but with most of the West Maui now reopened to tourism, there is a concerted effort to reinvigorate job opportunities and facilitate the economic recovery of Maui,” said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka in a statement that accompanied the monthly report.

Visitor spending on O‘ahu came in at $652.9 million in November 2023, compared with $737.9 million in November 2022 and $644.3 million in November 2019. That represented a drop of 11.5 percent and a gain of 1.3 percent, respectively.

Visitor spending on Hawai‘i Island climbed to $262.7 million in November 2023 from $195.8 million in November 2022 and $160.7 million in November 2019. That marked gains of 34.2 percent and 63.5 percent, respectively.