Visitor spending increased in November 2025 despite fewer visitor arrivals in Hawai‘i

Preliminary statistics from Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism show total visitor spending in November 2025 increased 15.9% to $1.77 billion compared with November the previous year, despite a decrease in total visitors to the islands.

Visitors in November spent more on an average daily basis — $271 per person, up 15.2% from the previous year — which offset a 3.6% decrease in total arrivals to 736,831 visitors.

Just less than 729,000 visitors— — a decrease of 3.7% from 755,784 during November 2024 — arrived by air to the Hawaiian Islands, mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East. Additionally, 8,760 visitors — a 5.9% increase from 8,271 the previous year — arrived via out-of-state cruise ships.

Kaua‘i numbers followed the same statewide trend in November 2025.

There were 103,858 visitors to the Garden Isle in November — down 1% compared with 104,894 visitors in November 2024. Visitor spending, however, was $236.9 million — a 13.1% increase compared with $209.6 million the year before.

Interestingly, average daily census on Kaua‘i was 27,183 visitors in November last year, a 5.1% increase compared with 25,858 visitors during the same month in 2024.

There were 1,297,022 visitors to the Garden Isle during the first 11 months of 2025, a 2.2% increase for the year compared with 1,269,333 visitors during the first 11 months of 2024.

Total visitor spending during those first 11 months of last year was $2.66 billion on Kaua‘i, or a 1.5% increase from $2.62 billion during the same period in 2024.

The statewide average daily census was 217,412 visitors in November 2025, or 0.06% more than the 216,109 visitors in November 2024. Meanwhile, the average length of stay by total visitors in November throughout the state was 8.85 days — about 4.3% longer than the 8.49 days the year before.

“Even though there were fewer total visitors than a year ago, these visitors stayed longer and spent more on a daily basis,” said Hawai‘i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director James Kunane Tokioka in a statement. “Both U.S. West and U.S. East markets recorded growth in visitor spending and in visitor days compared to November 2024. The Canadian market continued to be impacted by economic and political uncertainty and recorded decreased visitor spending and visitor arrivals in November 2025.”

Nearly 403,000 visitors arrived in the state from the U.S. West during November last year, a 2.4% decrease from November the year before when 412,957 visitors arrived.

They spent more on an average daily basis, however, resulting in higher total spending of $901 million, a large 23.8% increase compared with November 2024.

Daily spending by U.S. West visitors in November also increased to $260 per person compared with $215 per person, or a spike of 20.6%, in November of the year before.

The U.S. East Market sent more visitors in November 2025 than the previous year.

There were 168,386 visitors from the U.S. East in November, an increase of 3.1% compared with 163,246 in November 2024.

U.S. East visitors also spent more per day in November 2025, contributing to higher total spending or $515.9 million, or 26.5% more than $408 million in November 2024.

Daily spending by U.S. East visitors increased to $311 per person in November compared to $271 per person — or a hike of 14.7% — from the previous year.

Visitor arrivals from Canada decreased a significant 22.2% to 38,721 in November 2025 compared with 49,746 during November the previous year.

Canadian visitors also spent much less at a total of $94.8 million in November, down 22.3% from November 2024. Daily spending by those same visitors increased slightly by 0.8%, however, in November 2025 to $226 per person compared with $224 per person a year before.

Just more than 58,200 visitors arrived from Japan in November 2025, growth of 4.2% from the 55,869 visitors in November 2024. Japanese visitors spent $83.0 million during the month, which was a 1.6% increase from the $81.7 million a year before.

“We are encouraged to see continued improvement from Japan,” Tokioka said in his statement. “This marked the third month of consecutive increases in [visitor arrivals and visitor spending].”

Daily spending by Japanese visitors in November 2025, however, was at $248 per person, which was a slight decrease of 1.6% compared with $252 per person the previous November. The decrease was because of lower spending on shopping, food, entertainment and recreation.

There were 59,909 visitors from all other international markets in November 2025, which included visitors from Oceania, other Asian countries, Europe, Latin America, Guam the Philippines, the Pacific Islands and other nations.

In comparison, that was a decrease of 19% from the 73,966 visitors from all other international markets in November 2024.

There was a bright spot from those other international locations.

“Similar to the rest of the country, Hawai‘i has seen growth from Korean visitors,” Tokioka added in his statement. “Arrivals and total visitor spending from this market was very strong in November 2025 compared to the same month [a year before].”

Preliminary numbers reveal that there were 15,271 arrivals from Korea in November 2025, a whopping 38.4% increase from a year prior. Total visitor spending from those Korean arrivals was $39.1 million in November, a huge 38.2% spike from November 2024.

Arrivals from Korea increased 7.1% to 147,070 visitors during the first 11 months of 2025 as well, with total spending from those same visitors increasing by 4.7% to $382.9 million compared with the first 11 months of 2024.

November 2025 air capacity to Hawai‘i — 4,792 trans-Pacific flights with 1,059,378 seats — dropped slightly compared with November the year before with 4,795 flights — or a 0.1% decrease — and 1,061,794 seats — or a 0.2% decline.

Year-to-date 2025

A total of 8,774,096 visitors arrived during the first 11 months of 2025, down slightly by 0.2% from 8,793,885 visitors during the first 11 months of 2024.

Total visitor spending throughout the first 11 months of last year was $19.64 billion, a 5.9% increase from $18.54 billion during the first 11 months of the year before.