May 2024 Hotel Performance

The state had a one percentage point decrease in occupancy and a 1% drop in ADR resulting in a 2.3% decrease in RevPAR compared to last May. RevPAR was up 4% on Oahu, down 11% on Maui, down 1% on Hawaii Island and up 2% on Kauai. For the year to date, occupancy is flat, rate is down 2% and so is RevPAR. Oahu is up 5% in RevPAR while Maui is down10%, Hawaii Island is flat and Kauai is up 3% because of 5% higher ADR.

Air Seats

The outlook for air seats for the State while generally positive has declined recently. There appears to be a softening in demand.

State of Hawaii up 2.4%

Honolulu up 10%

Kahului down 16%

Kona down 3%

Lihue up 6%

Domestic flat

International up 18%

Japan up 31%

Canada up 8%

Oceania down 15%

Korea up 9%

The return of Japanese visitors will be slowing over the next few months. The yen approaching a three-decade low is an obvious reason. I bet you know many folks that went to Japan for a holiday recently. For more on where the Japanese are going, Erik Kloninger has the insights below.

Year-to-date through May, Waikiki RevPAR was 13.6% higher than pre-pandemic. Waikiki’s RevPAR gain lags the overall state RevPAR increase of 23.4% during the same period, as well as the gains reported for each of the Neighbor Islands.

The softness in Waikiki can be attributed to the slow recovery of the Japan visitor market. Using data published by the Japan National Tourism Office, we compared Hawaii’s Q1 2024 Japanese visitor arrivals with the overall Japanese outbound tourism market and select destinations.

During Q1 2024, the number of outbound Japanese travelers equaled 62% of its pre-pandemic level. Japanese visitor arrivals in Hawaii during the quarter equaled 46% of their pre-pandemic level. Other Pacific leisure destinations also lagged the total outbound market, with Guam arrivals equaling 31% of their pre-pandemic level. Japanese visitor arrivals in Spain and a few other European destinations have outperformed the overall recovery of their outbound market.

Data Source: Hawaii Tourism Authority & the Japan National Tourism Office