- Total spending by out-of-state visitors who came to Hawaii in September 2021 was $1.05 billion.
- Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic and Hawaii’s quarantine requirements, Hawaii achieved record-level visitor expenditures and arrivals in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020.
- A total of 505,861 visitors arrived by air service to the Hawaiian Islands in September 2021, primarily from the U.S. West and U.S. East.
According to preliminary visitor statistics released by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), total spending by visitors who came to Hawaii in September 2021 was $1.05 billion.
Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic and Hawaii’s quarantine requirements for travelers, the State of Hawaii achieved record-level visitor expenditures and arrivals in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020. Comparative September 2020 visitor spending statistics were not available as the Departure Survey could not be conducted last September due to COVID-19 restrictions. September 2021 visitor spending was lower than the $1.25 billion (-15.4%) reported for September 2019.
A total of 505,861 visitors arrived by air service to the Hawaiian Islands in September 2021, primarily from the U.S. West and U.S. East. In comparison, only 18,409 visitors (+2,647.8%) arrived by air in September 2020 and 736,155 visitors (-31.3%) arrived by air and by cruise ships in September 2019.
In September 2021, passengers arriving from out-of-state could bypass the State’s mandatory 10-day self-quarantine if they were fully vaccinated in the United States or with a valid negative COVID-19 NAAT test result from a Trusted Testing Partner prior to their departure through the Safe Travels program. On August 23, 2021, Hawaii Governor David Ige urged travelers to curtail non-essential travel until the end of October 2021 due to a surge in Delta variant cases that has overburdened the state’s health care facilities and resources. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued to enforce restrictions on cruise ships through a “Conditional Sail Order”, a phased approach for the resumption of passenger cruises to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19 onboard.
The average daily census was 154,355 visitors in September 2021, compared to 20,472 in September 2020, versus 206,169 in September 2019.
