As the first quarter came to a close overall tourism in Hawaii was stable in comparison to 2023 and down in comparison to 2019, but the first quarter of 2019 was one of the best quarters the State of Hawaii has seen. Let’s take a look at some of the key statistics.
Total Visitors
The State of Hawaii saw a 2.5% decrease in visitors compared to 2023 and a 5.4% decrease in comparison to 2019. The total nights stayed saw a similar decrease so there was not much of a shift in average night stay. International visitors were up, but domestic visitors were down. International visitors are expected to continue to increase as international travel continues to be seen as safer post COVID19. Domestic travel was down primarily from the east coast and it is speculated that that is because people are becoming more comfortable traveling to the Caribbean, go on cruises, etc.
Total Expenditures
This is an important item for vacation rental homeowners because just because visitors go down it does not necessarily mean that your revenue will go down. Total expenditures did go down 2.7% in comparison to 2023, but are still up 16% in comparison to 2019. This was somewhat expected as the average hotel rates for 2023 were the highest the islands had ever seen.
Island of Choice
Oahu was the only island that saw a fairly substantial increase in tourism, over 5%. Maui, Molokai, and Lanai all saw substantial decreases. The Big Island and Kauai stayed somewhat the same. The increase in tourism for Oahu is more than likely related to increased tourism from Japan.
Hotels vs Vacation Rentals vs. Timeshares
As a vacation rental homeowner this is also another statistic that is good to keep an eye on. Vacation rentals saw a 10% decrease in comparison to 2023. Timeshares were the only accommodation type to see an increase. While it can be somewhat alarming, it is somewhat expected. The first quarter of 2022 and 2023 were the best quarters vacation rentals had ever seen due to many travelers wanting to stay away from locations that had a lot of people. As the worry has decreased, things have moved back to slightly better than 2019 numbers. Many hotels, including the Hilton Waikoloa and Waikoloa Beach Marriott, have moved to making portions of their hotels timeshares. It is more than likely simply that more supply is the cause for the increase for timeshares. Once again, as a vacation rental homeowner, this is nothing to be worried about that this point.
Waikoloa Vacation Rentals
Overall we are seeing better numbers than what the Hawaiian Islands as a whole are seeing. We are still seeing fairly substantial increases in rent in comparison to 2019 and seeing a slight decrease in occupancy. Overall the increase in rent outweighs the decrease in occupancy. Also we are seeing the occupancy trends go back to 2019 trends, which is when kids are out of school being very busy and when kids are in school it being very slow.