Hawaii Visitor Data Is In. As We Predicted, Numbers Are Way Up

Hawaii Visitor Deluge Coming | What We Know, What’s Next, Action Plan

As early as last December, there were signed as the Hawaii domestic visitor count far exceeded expectations, which results even surprised us. Even that, however, didn’t tell the whole story of what’s now unfolding.

Before we even knew the word Covid and all of its implications, Hawaii had record-breaking visitor arrivals throughout 2019 and into early 2021. Then it all ground to a halt for what seemed like an eternity.

Read more about what this means for your travel plans and see our best tips at the end of today’s post.

Airline hiring spree speaks to unprecedented Hawaii tourism demand in 2022.

Today, bellwether Hawaiian Airlines launched a big statewide campaign to hire 600 new employees “to support the carrier’s growth as travel demand continues to improve.” This is across a wide range of support positions on all of the islands.  In addition, “Hawaiian is also seeking Honolulu-based pilots, flight attendants and corporate team members as it prepares to welcome a new fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft and return to its international markets.”

During Covid, Hawaiian faced huge cuts, and furloughed a significant percentage of its staff. Operations came to a virtual standstill. This is a huge turnaround. In addition, newcomer Southwest Airlines is running very short-staffed and is trying to deal with the onslaught.

In a nutshell, it is going to be busy. Very busy.

Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism said that “as long as Hawaii remains a safe destination we can regain our momentum with visitor arrivals to recover in the second quarter of this year.”

International visitors still have not returned in any meaningful way, but that is coming soon too.

Hawaii’s whiplash-wild tourism rebound. 

Hawaii travel’s faster than expected return is just getting started. The upcoming spring break and upcoming peak summer season will be telltale. Prices, for everything except to some degree airfare, have gone up. In some cases, way up. Vacation rentals especially on the neighbor islands, are in high demand and are selling out quickly as arriving visitors wanted more space and less interaction.

Hotels are jumping up in price too. On Hawaii car rentals, there is some better news. While they experienced the same issues of being priced dramatically high or being entirely unavailable, worse on the neighbor islands, it is improving. There appears to be better availability and somewhat lower prices ahead. With that, it isn’t clear what will become of the whole new industry that was spawned when people created their Turo vehicle rental fleets. We understand there is a glut of those cars for sale now.

Best Tips For 2022 Hawaii Vacations

How to find the least crowds and the lowest prices this year. Get planning now for your vacation in Hawaii. Can you vacation off-season after spring break to early June and August 15 to Thanksgiving? If so, that will be the best to avoid all problems.

Save money and avoid these pitfalls.

Read Hidden Costs Of Hawaii Vacations + What You Can Do. You’re clearly spending more visiting Hawaii. From accommodations and car rentals to restaurants and more, here are some more great tips to help you keep your vacation budget in check.

Updated 3/10/22.

48 thoughts on “Hawaii Visitor Deluge Coming | What We Know, What’s Next, Action Plan”

  1. Coming? its here! cant park at the beach or store, cant get into restaurants, cant turn left, etc etc etc.
    enough to make we want to just stay home.

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  2. Leaving in 5 days for our trip to Oahu (after forcing to cancel in 2020)! Even with safe travels requirements and mask mandates, we are so excited to come for the first time! I think as restrictions continue to loosen more people will come back. Thanks BOH for keeping us in the loop about traveling to HI!

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    1. Hi Jen.

      Thanks. We’re happy to hear you’re about to enjoy a vacation in Honolulu!

      Aloha.

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  3. After seeing how many people look with mask off I’m starting to be a fan of mask on well for most people 🙂

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  4. High fuel prices are going to discourage travel to the islands. Coupled with higher inflation then the mainland as just about everything has to be shipped in by boat. I don’t see a repeat of the summer 2021 insane hotel and car rental prices as that was fueled by cheap airfares and pentup demand. This is a best case view and if Biden cause Putin to send of Russia’s oil to commie china then Katy bar the door, as there will have to be rasioning as no way the supply gap that would cause to make up

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    1. Checked rental car prices through Costco for 10 days in Maui, in late August. $1365. That’s about 60% higher than pre-pandemic. Hope it gets better.

  5. My advice for anybody planning to fly between now and November is to book your flight now. I understand that air fares fluctuate, but finding fares rise by $200 in just two days prompted me to book our November flights now. I also booked our rental car. It was slightly more expensive that last year, even though we booked for 7 days instead of 10. I booked our condo earlier in the month, so we’re set. With fuel prices skyrocketing, I’m wondering how high the air fares will go. Thanks BOH.

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    1. I always purchase my airfare to Hawaii at least 10 months prior to our dates of travel. This year we hotel reservations in early November. Early January I purchased the airline tickets. After reading the article I looked to see the cost today. I guess I am fortunate my same airfare in a period of 2 months has increased $50. The real concern is the amount to pay for a car rental. The cost of the same size car for the same time of year has increased 30%.

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