Hawaii arrivals were way up in April, but still far shy of pre-pandemic levels

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - What a difference a year makes.

New Hawaii Tourism Authority figures show Hawaii saw more than 484,000 visitors in April.

That’s 100 times more than the number of visitors who came in last April, when Hawaii was at the height of the pandemic’s lockdown.

And while last month’s visitor numbers demonstrate the ongoing rebound in tourism, they’re far lower than what Hawaii saw before the pandemic.

In April 2019, Hawaii welcomed nearly 850,000 visitors.

Meanwhile, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said total visitor spending last month was $811 million.

And for the first four months of 2021, visitor spending has raked in $2.3 billion. The majority of that came in from visitors coming in from the West Coast.

International travel made up a sliver of the incoming revenues.

Altogether through April, Hawaii has seen 1.3 million visitors. That’s down 37% compared to the same period a year ago ― which shows just how big Hawaii’s pre-pandemic tourism numbers were.