Preliminary statistics released by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) show that in May 2021 a total of 629,681 visitors arrived by air to the Hawaiian Islands. Most of the visitors were mainly from the U.S. West and U.S. East.
In comparison, only 9,116 visitors arrived by air in May 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and Hawaiʻi’s quarantine requirement for travelers. Total spending for visitors arriving in May 2021 was $1.10 billion. There is no comparative visitor spending data available for May 2020.
Prior to the pandemic, Hawaiʻi experienced record-level visitor expenditures and arrivals in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020. When compared to 2019, visitor arrivals in May 2021 were down 25.7 percent from the May 2019 count of 847,396 visitors (air and cruise), and visitor spending decreased 22.2 percent from the $1.41 billion spent in May 2019.
In May 2021, the State’s Safe Travels program was still underway, with most passengers arriving from out-of-state able to bypass the 10-day self-quarantine with a valid negative COVID-19 prior to departure. The counties of Hawaiʻi, Kauai, Maui and Kalawao (Molokai) also had a partial quarantine in place in May. The CDC enforced restrictions on cruise ships through a “Conditional Sail Order.”
The average daily census showed that there were 190,491 visitors in Hawaii on any given day in May 2021, compared to 8,323 visitors per day in May 2020, and 228,768 visitors per day in May 2019.
In May 2021, 418,956 visitors arrived from the U.S. West, well above the 5,842 visitors (+7,072.0%) in May 2020, and exceeding the May 2019 count of 387,844 visitors (+8.0%). U.S. West visitors spent $715.5 million in May 2021 which surpassed the $564.0 million (+26.9%) spent in May 2019.
There were 193,501 visitors from the U.S. East in May 2021, compared to 2,647 visitors (+7,209.6%) in May 2020, versus 199,344 visitors (-2.9%) in May 2019. U.S. East visitors spent $380.9 million in May 2021 compared to $392.4 million (-2.9%) in May 2019.
In May 2021,1,312 visitors came from Japan, compared to 14 visitors (+9,357.8%) in May 2020, versus 113,226 visitors (-98.8%) in May 2019. Visitors from Japan spent $4.9 million in May 2021 compared to $162.4 million (-97.0%) in May 2019.
Only 564 visitors arrived from Canada in May 2021, compared to 20 visitors (+2,711.0%) in May 2020, versus 26,424 visitors (-97.9%) in May 2019.
