Hawaii Visitors and Spending Up in 2018

The Hawaii Tourism Authority recently released their visitor statistics for 2018 and they show overall growth over 2017.

Visitors were up 5.9 percent over 2017, as they welcomed just shy of 10 million visitors to the islands in 2018 (9,954,548 to be exact). Visitor spending was also up in 2018 compared to 2017, with visitors spending a total of $17.82 billion, a 6.8 percent increase, and generating $2.08 billion in state tax revenue.

Kauai saw the biggest increase in both visitor statistics in 2018, with a 7.6 percent increase in visitor arrivals and a 10.2 percent increase in visitor spending over 2017.

Hawaii had a great 2018, but two events stuck around in the news a little too long and distracted the media and travelers. The Kilauea Volcano eruption was an unnecessary distraction and Hurricane Lane threatened the islands, but in the end, all was good.