The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands in July 2020.
Visitor arrivals dropped 97.7 percent compared to a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Tourism Research Division.
All passengers arriving from out-of-state during July were required to abide by a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine. Exemptions include travel for essential reasons like work or healthcare. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued to enforce its “No Sail Order” on all cruise ships.
In July, a total of 22,562 visitors traveled to Hawaii by air service compared to 995,210 visitors during the same period a year ago. Most of the visitors were from U.S. West (12,890, -97.2%) and U.S. East (7,516, -96.9%). A few visitors came from Japan (54, -100.0%) and Canada (94, -99.6%). There were 2,008 visitors from All Other International Markets (-98.4%). Many of these visitors were from Guam, and a small number of visitors were from the Philippines, Oceania, Other Asia, Europe, Latin America, Puerto Rico, and the Pacific Islands. Total visitor days[1] decreased 93.7 percent
year-over-year.
A total of 162,130 trans-Pacific air seats serviced the Hawaiian Islands in July, down 87.1 percent from a year ago. There were no direct flights or scheduled seats from Japan, Canada, Oceania, and Other Asia, and very few scheduled seats from U.S. East (-91.3%), U.S. West (-83.3%) and Other countries (-57.2%).
Year-to-Date 2020
In the first seven months of 2020, total visitor arrivals decreased 64.7 percent to 2,178,796 visitors, with significantly fewer arrivals by air service (-64.7% to 2,149,005) and by cruise ships (-61.3% to 29,792) compared to the same period a year ago. Total visitor days declined 61.3 percent.
Year-to-date, visitor arrivals by air service decreased from U.S. West (-65.4% to 940,780), U.S. East (-62.8% to 531,296), Japan (-66.1% to 294,348), Canada (-54.5% to 155,915) and All Other International Markets (-68.8% to 226,665).
Other Highlights:
U.S. West: In July, 9,417 visitors arrived from the Pacific region compared to 377,932 visitors a year ago, and 3,273 visitors came from the Mountain region compared to 76,530 a year ago. Through the first seven months of 2020, visitor arrivals declined substantially from both the Pacific (-66.7% to 710,295) and Mountain (-60.9% to 210,045) regions compared to the same period year-over-year.
U.S. East: Through the first seven months of 2020, visitor arrivals dropped considerably from all regions. The three largest regions, East North Central (-59.1% to 111,636), South Atlantic (-67.6% to 98,474) and West North Central (-47.4% to 95,023) saw sharp decreases compared to the first seven months of 2019.
Japan: In July, 54 visitors arrived from Japan compared to 134,587 visitors a year ago.Year-to-date through July, arrivals declined 66.1 percent to 294,348 visitors.
Canada: In July, 94 visitors arrived from Canada compared to 26,939 visitors a year ago. Year-to-date through July, arrivals dropped to 155,915 visitors (-54.5%).
Highlights from All Other International Markets:
Australia: There were 17 visitors who traveled to Hawai‘i in July compared to 27,177 visitors a year ago. Through the first seven months of 2020, arrivals decreased 68.7 percent to 50,106 visitors.
New Zealand: There were 33 visitors in July versus 10,254 visitors a year ago. Through the first seven months of 2020, arrivals declined to 10,760 visitors (-75.2%).
China: There were 20visitors in July compared to 8,562 visitors a year ago. Year-to-date through July, arrivals decreased 83.8 percent to 10,023 visitors.
Korea: There were 16visitors in July versus 19,109 visitors a year ago. Through the first seven months of 2020, arrivals fell 67.9 percent to 41,688 visitors.
Taiwan: Five visitors traveled to Hawai‘i in July compared to 2,301 visitors a year ago. Year-to-date through July, arrivals dropped 79.0 percent to 3,468 visitors.
Europe: There were 74 visitors from Europe (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland) in July versus 16,059 visitors a year ago. Through the first seven months of 2020, arrivals decreased 71.1 percent to 20,562 visitors.
Latin America: There were 113 visitors from Latin America (Mexico, Brazil and Argentina) in July compared to 2,831 visitors a year ago. Year-to-date through July, arrivals dropped 66.5percent to 5,227 visitors.
In July 2020, sails on the Hawai‘i home-ported cruise ship were suspended and no out-of-state cruise ships were allowed into the islands due to the CDC’s “No Sail Order.” During July 2019, 10,184 visitors came by air to board the Hawai‘i home-ported cruise ship and there were no visits by out-of-state cruise ships. The months of June through August are typically slower periods for out-of-state cruise ships entering Hawai‘i.
Year-to-date, 29,792 visitors entered Hawai‘i on 20 out-of-state cruise ships. Several of those ships were smaller in capacity compared to the 37 cruise ships that carried 77,036 visitors in the first seven months of 2019.
There were 52,705 total cruise visitors in the first seven months of 2020, down 65.2 percent froma year ago.
