Visitor Arrivals Down 70% in February

Visitor arrivals to Hawai´i remained well below pre-pandemic levels in February.

According to preliminary statistics released by the Hawai´i Tourism Authority (HTA), the average daily census showed that there were 90,776 visitors in Hawai´i on any given day in February 2021, compared to 250,052 visitors per day in February 2020.

During February, most passengers arriving from out-of-state and traveling inter-county could bypass the state’s mandatory 10-day self-quarantine with a valid negative COVID-19 NAAT test result from a Trusted Testing Partner through the state’s Safe Travels program. All trans-Pacific travelers participating in the pre-travel testing program were required to have a negative test result before their departure to Hawai´i.

Kaua´i County continued to temporarily suspend its participation in the Safe Travels program for trans-Pacific travelers, but inter-island travelers who had been in Hawai´i for more than three days could bypass the quarantine with a valid test result. Trans-Pacific travelers to Kaua´i were given the option of participating in a pre- and post-travel testing program at a “resort bubble” property as a way to shorten their time in quarantine.

The counties of Hawai´i and Maui also had a partial quarantine in place in February. In addition, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued to enforce the “Conditional Sailing Order” on all cruise ships.

A total of 235,283 visitors traveled to Hawai´i by air service in February 2021, compared to 828,056 visitors who came by air and cruise ships a year ago. Most of the visitors were from the US West (164,861, -53.6%) and US East (63,899, -67.1%). Also, 695 visitors came from Japan (-99.4%) and 493 visitors came from Canada (-99.2%). There were 5,336 visitors from All Other International Markets (-93.2%). Many of these visitors were from Guam, and a small number of visitors were from Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, Philippines and Pacific Islands.

Total visitor spending in February 2021 was $385.3 million (-73.6%). This represented an average of $13.8 million per day, compared to $50.3 million per day in February 2020.

There were 2,556 trans-Pacific flights and 532,220 air seats that serviced the Hawaiian Islands in February 2021. This averaged out to 91 flights and 19,008 air seats per day, which is far less than the 172 flights and 38,186 seats per day in February 2020. There were no scheduled seats from Oceania, and considerably fewer scheduled seats from Other Asia, Japan, Canada, US East, US West, and Other countries compared to a year ago.

Year-to-Date 2021

For the first two months of 2021, total visitor spending dropped to $768.7 million (-75.8%). This represented an average of $13 million per day compared to $52.9 million per day, year-over-year. The average daily census decreased to 85,519 total visitors compared to 260,059 visitors per day, year-to-date February 2020.