Hawaii is witnessing a notable rebound in its visitor industry with significant improvements in October 2024. Based on the preliminary statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the islands saw an influx of 774,617 visitors, indicating a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year. This upsurge brought the state's visitor spending up to $1.58 billion, marking a 6.2 percent rise when matched against the figures from October 2023. Despite the gains, the visitor numbers still fell shy of a full recovery by 2.7 percent compared to the pre-pandemic peak in October 2019, where 796,191 visitors were recorded.
The bulk of travel to Hawaii in October this year was through air service, which comprised 738,989 visitors, while the waters brought in 35,627 via out-of-state cruise ships. This composition of air and sea arrivals presents a compelling picture of growth since last year, reflecting a continued positive trajectory for the state's tourism sector. Notably, the length of stay for all visitors was slightly shorter in comparison to the previous year, at an average of 8.33 days versus October 2023's 8.53 days. As per the state's average daily census, there were 208,032 visitors any given day in October 2024, which fares well against October 2023's count of 202,055 visitors, as detailed by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.
Visitors from the U.S. West remained a major contributor, with their numbers increasing by 6.5 percent from October 2023, and their spending rose substantially by 37.1 percent since October 2019. On the other hand, there's a continued disparity in the recovery of Japanese tourism, with visitor numbers down by half compared to October 2019, even though there has been a 14.3 percent bump from last year. As for Canadian tourists, their arrivals essentially held steady from last year but remained significantly lower than the count in the same period from 2019.
Other international markets also saw a rise, with a combined total of 92,255 visitors, a 4.5 percent increase from October 2023. In a striking contrast, Hawaii's air capacity for international flights was still lagging in recovery, with numbers trailing significantly below the levels from October 2019. This raise questions about whether the volume of visitors will maintain its momentum in the face of potential air travel constraints. In the statement obtained by Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Director James Kunane Tokioka expressed optimism due to the highest recovery rate since April 2023, aside from the anomaly of February 2024's leap day.
Looking at the year-to-date figures, Hawaii welcomed 8,008,118 visitors through October 2024, slightly lower than the previous year. The first 10 months of visitor spending, however, reveals a dip by 1.0 percent from 2023, but a considerable increase from the pre-pandemic spending back in 2019. This mixed bag of indicators suggests a recovering industry still grappling with the long-term impacts of global events, as reported by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
