A new study in the Hawaii market found that interest in traveling to Hawaii down from April of last year.
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- The number of people traveling to the islands dipped slightly last month, but visitor spending was up when compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
According to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's (DBEDT) report released on Thursday, 776,375 visitors came to Hawaii in May. That's a 91.6% recovery rate from May 2019.
While it's lower than April's recovery rate of 96.3%, it's the second highest recovery rate since March 2020.
Visitors spent $1.56 billion last month -- an increase of 10.6% compared to May 2019.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) held its monthly board meeting on Thursday, and there was a presentation on the results of the Portrait of American Travelers study that focused on those likely to visit Hawaii in the future.
The study, done by travel research company MMGY for the Hawaii market, found that interest in visiting Hawaii is significantly down from April of last year.
"And we're looking at by age group who is not interested in general coming to Hawaii and we see the biggest drop in millennials," said DBEDT director of tourism research Jennifer Chun.
And why are people not interested in visiting Hawaii? The study found the top deterrent is the cost.
"And COVID is not as much of a concern but the cost of air, cost of a vacation -- all of that is really still impactful for people who are considering a trip to Hawaii," Chun said.
In addition to airfare getting more expensive, Hawaii hotel room rates are also up. According to the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report for May 2022, the state's average daily rate for a hotel room was $340 a night, compared to $288 the same time last year, and $255 in 2019, before the pandemic.
Also during HTA's board meeting, Chun presented the results of the newly-released visitor satisfaction survey for the first quarter of 2022, which you can find here.
To see the results of the Portrait of American Travelers study on Hawaii tourism, click here.
Marisa Yamane joined KITV4 in January 2022 as an anchor and executive producer. She is an award-winning veteran journalist, who’s spent most of her career in Hawaii. She’s a proud graduate of Iolani School and UCLA.
