News Releases
Hawaii Visitor Statistics Released for October 2020
For Immediate Release: November 24, 2020
HTA Release (20-188)
October 2020 Visitor Stats Press Release
HONOLULU – Hawaii’s visitor industry continues to be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, visitor arrivals decreased 90.4 percent compared to a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Tourism Research Division.
On October 15, the state launched a pre-travel testing program, allowing passengers arriving from out-of-state and traveling inter-county to bypass the 14-day quarantine with a valid negative COVID-19 test result from a Trusted Testing and Travel Partner. As a result, slightly more travelers arrived in Hawaii than in previous months, when testing was not an option to bypass the trans-Pacific quarantine requirement that began on March 26. Also in October, the County of Maui issued a stay-at-home order for all individuals on Lanai that began on October 27. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued to enforce the “No Sail Order” on all cruise ships.
During October 2020, a total of 76,613 visitors traveled to Hawaii by air service, compared to 796,191 visitors who came by air service and cruise ships in October 2019. Most of the visitors were from U.S. West (53,396, -84.9%) and U.S. East (19,582, -86.8%). Only 183 visitors came from Japan (-99.9%) and 389 came from Canada (-98.8%). There were 3,064 visitors from All Other International Markets (-97.1%). Many of these visitors were from Guam, and a small number of visitors were from the Philippines, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Oceania and the Pacific Islands. Total visitor days declined 81.7 percent compared to October of last year.
A total of 223,353 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in October, down 79.0 percent from a year ago. There were no direct flights or scheduled seats from Canada, Oceania, and Other Asia, and fewer scheduled seats from Japan (-98.6%), U.S. East (-74.3%), U.S. West (-72.5%), and Other countries (-54.6%) compared to a year ago.