News Releases
Hawaii Visitor Statistics Released for January 2021
For Immediate Release: February 25, 2021
HTA Release (21-05)
2021-02-25 January 2021 Visitor Statistics Press Release.pdf
HONOLULU – Hawaii’s visitor industry continues to be impacted significantly by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, visitor arrivals dropped 80.1 percent compared to a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Tourism Research Division.
In January, a total of 171,976 visitors traveled to Hawaii by air service, compared to 862,574 visitors who came by air service and cruise ships a year ago. Most of the visitors were from the U.S. West (112,020, -68.2%) and U.S. East (50,788, -74.6%). In addition, 2,898 came from Canada (-95.6%) and 1,165 visitors came from Japan (-99.1%). There were 5,105 visitors from All Other International Markets (-95.2%). Many of these visitors were from Guam, and a small number of visitors were from Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, Philippines and Pacific Islands. Total visitor days declined 70.0 percent compared to January 2020.
During January, most passengers arriving from out-of-state and traveling inter-county could bypass the State’s mandatory 10-day self-quarantine with a valid negative COVID-19 NAAT test result from a Trusted Testing Partner through the state’s Safe Travels program. All trans-Pacific travelers participating in the pre-travel testing program were required to have a negative test result before their departure to Hawaii. On December 2, 2020 Kauai County temporarily suspended its participation in the state’s Safe Travels program, making it mandatory for all travelers to Kauai to quarantine upon arrival. However, starting January 5, 2021 Kauai County rejoined the Safe Travels program for inter-island arrivals, allowing inter-island travelers who have been in Hawaii for more than three days to bypass the quarantine with a valid test result. Also starting January 5 on Kauai, trans-Pacific travelers were given the option of participating in a pre- and post-travel testing program at a “resort bubble” property as a way to shorten their time in quarantine. The counties of Hawaii, Maui and Kalawao (Molokai) also had a partial quarantine in place in January. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued to enforce the “Conditional Sailing Order” on all cruise ships.
Total visitor spending in January 2021 was $383.3 million, down 77.6 percent compared to a year ago. U.S. West visitors spent $225.7 million (-63.7%) in January, and their average daily spending was $153 per person (-17.7%). U.S. East visitors spent $137.9 million (-72.8%) and $167 per person, per day (-25.9%). Visitors from Japan spent $4.8 million (-97.4%), and their daily spending was $204 per person, per day (-15.2%). Visitors from Canada spent $14.9 million (-90.7%) and $172 per person (-2.1%) on a daily basis. Spending data for visitors from other markets were not available.
There were 2,856 (-47.3%) trans-Pacific flights that serviced the Hawaiian Islands in January. This represented a total of 593,981 air seats, down 50.6 percent from a year ago. There were no scheduled seats from Oceania, and considerably fewer scheduled seats from Other Asia (-96.6%), Japan (-91.1%), Canada (-89.4%), U.S. East (-53.2%), U.S. West (-30.5%), and Other countries (-57.6%) compared to a year ago.