Visitor arrivals to Hawaii down 98.9 percent in May

Honolulu (Press Release) : According to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Tourism Research Division, visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands decreased 98.9 percent in May 2020 compared to a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All passengers arriving from out-of-state and traveling inter-island during May must abide by a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine. Exemptions include travel for essential reasons like work or healthcare. In May, Governor David Ige’s “Stay-at-Home” order transitioned to the “Safer-at-Home” order, and eventually, the state entered the “Act with Care” phase. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also continued to enforce its “No Sail Order” on all cruise ships.

In May, 9,116 visitors traveled to Hawaii by air service compared to 841,376 total visitors (by air and cruise ships) during the same period a year ago. Most of the visitors were from the U.S. West (5,842, -98.5%) and the U.S. East (2,647, -98.7%). A few visitors came from Japan (14, -100.0%) and Canada (20, -99.9%). There were 593 visitors from All Other International Markets (-99.4%), most of whom were visiting from Guam. Total visitor days they dropped 96.3 percent year-over-year.

97,753 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in May, down 91.3 percent from a year ago. There were no direct flights or scheduled seats from U.S. East, Japan, Canada, Oceania, and Other Asia, and very few seats from U.S. West (-88.3%) and Other countries (-58.1%).

Year-to-Date 2020

In the first five months of 2020, total visitor arrivals dropped 49.5 percent to 2,139,166 visitors, with significantly fewer arrivals by air service (-49.3% to 2,109,375) and by cruise ships (-60.7% to 29,792) compared to the same period a year ago. Total visitor days fell 46.3 percent.

Year-to-date, visitor arrivals by air service decreased from U.S. West (-49.3% to 917,741), U.S. East (-44.5% to 518,185), Japan (-51.6% to 294,255), Canada (-46.5% to 155,764) and All Other International Markets (-57.4% to 223,430).

SOURCE: Hawaii Tourism Authority Press Release
Photo: HTA PR Release