The number of visitors to Hawaii in November, the first full month of the Aloha State's Safe Travels pretravel testing program for Covid-19, was 77% below the total for the same period in 2019, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
While numbers remained way off from 2019 figures, it was a noticeable improvement from the previous two months: Total visitors were off 90% in October, the month the program debuted, and were down 97% in September.
Hawaii's testing program launched Oct. 15 and allows those entering the state to bypass a 10-day mandatory quarantine if they test negative for coronavirus within 72 hours of departure at an approved testing partner.
In November, 183,779 visitors traveled to Hawaii, compared with 809,076 in November 2019. The U.S. West region accounted for 75% of those arrivals, as most international destinations still restrict travel to and from the U.S., and much of the mainland is experiencing increased coronavirus infection rates. The state's pretravel testing program was also opened up to travelers from Japan and Canada, but there were fewer than 1,000 arrivals from each of those countries in November. Total visitor days declined 66% compared with November of 2019.
A new state policy went into effect on Nov. 24 requiring all transpacific travelers participating in the pretravel testing program to have a negative test result before their departure to Hawaii, and test results would no longer be accepted once a traveler arrives in the state. Kauai, Hawaii Island, Maui and Molokai also had a partial quarantine in place in November.
Reflecting the depressed numbers, the number of air seats to the Islands was down 59% year over year in November.
Through the first 11 months of 2020, visitor arrivals were 74% behind the 2019 pace, with fewer than 2.5 million visitors arriving in Hawaii through November, while the state set a record for visitation in 2019 with more than 10 million arrivals.
Hawaii hotels also reported significant year-over-year drops in occupancy and revenue in November. Revenue per available room was 75% less in November 2020 than in November 2019, with average daily rate down 12% to $230 and occupancy falling 57 percentage points, to 22%, not far above the 20% occupancy rate in September when there was no testing program in place. Hawaii hotel room revenues statewide dropped 79%, to $70.6 million, in November.