by Shane Nelson
Last updated: 10:40 AM ET, Fri October 3, 2025
The final speaker at this year’s two-day Hawaii Tourism
Conference had a sobering message for a room filled with the state’s visitor
industry stakeholders.
“I know a lot of you have already done your forecasting for
2026, and what I'm hearing in the marketplace is at best you're looking at a
1.5, maybe a 2% increase,” said David Uchiyama, the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA)
chief administrative officer. “And that's for the hotels that are on the ocean.
Neighbor islands, off the shoreline, are running a lower occupancy. And what
that means is less hours for our people and less jobs.”
Uchiyama noted that earlier in the day, a state official informed
the conference that overall airlift to Hawaii for the rest of 2025 is likely to
remain essentially flat year over year.
“But are those seats filled?” Uchiyama asked the room. “Booking
pace is down. And we're going to have to partner with our airlines to make sure
we keep all of those flights, and they don't redeploy them to other
destinations. That's the reality."
State Tourism Stakeholders Unite
Held Sept. 22 and 23 at the Hawaii Convention Center just
outside of Waikiki, this year's Hawaii Tourism Conference featured a diverse
collection of keynote speakers and panel discussions, covering everything from
domestic and international market trends; destination management and
sustainability to artificial intelligence, intellectual property and a first
look at the destination’s new 2026 U.S. advertising campaign.
More than 600 people participated this year, according to
conference organizers at the HTA, including state government officials, tour operators,
hoteliers, suppliers, tourism marketers, and travel advisors. And while the
conference featured a great deal of optimism about the direction of Hawaii’s
visitor industry, many of the event’s presenters spoke about headwinds – such
as airlift challenges, geopolitical tension and price increases – that the
Islands are currently facing.
“We've been here before,” Uchiyama said. “We got hit with the
Gulf War. We got hit with a $100 a barrel for oil, which sent airfares
skyrocketing. And then on top of that, we had the financial collapse causing
the Great Recession. We rallied then, and we will rally now. We have to unite
and move forward together.”
Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) chief administrative officer David Uchiyama says Hawaii’s booking pace is down. (Photo Credit: Shane Nelson)
‘The U.S. Is Showing Up’
Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB) President and
CEO Aaron Sala told conference attendees that U.S. visitor arrivals to the
Islands are up 8.5% over pre-pandemic levels and up 2.2% year-to-date through
July.
Sala added that U.S. visitor spending in Hawaii is currently up
45% over 2019 levels, with per-person-per-day spending by U.S. travelers up 37%
over pre-pandemic levels.
"The U.S. market remains a primary engine behind Hawaii's
ongoing tourism recovery,” Sala said. “But the U.S. person per day [spending]
increase is not as high as Canada spends, and it's not as high as Japan spends.
So we need to focus our energy to support the international market to help fill
the gap because there's a lot of pressure on the U.S. to show up. And right now
the U.S. is showing up.”
Mentioning geopolitical tensions and concerns about the global
economy, Jennifer Chun, the director of tourism research for Hawaii’s
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), said her
organization expects total visitors to Hawaii from Japan to be down more than
50% in 2025 compared with pre-pandemic figures. Chun said DBEDT expects this
year's total arrivals from Canada to be down more than 25% compared to 2019.
“We’re in trouble – especially for
international markets,” said Jadie Goo, the HTA’s acting chief brand officer. “To
sum it up, we are losing market share and air seats. And here is the truth, if
the trend continues, and we don’t act now to drive demand, we will risk heading
into a downward spiral that will be hard to reverse.”
Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau president and CEO Aaron Sala said US visitor arrivals to Hawaii are up 8.5% over pre-pandemic levels. (Photo Credit: Shane Nelson)
‘Hawaii Stays With You’
The HVCB's Sala also said his organization will begin shooting
this fall on a new U.S. advertising campaign for the Islands called
"Hawaii Stays With You,” which is slated to launch in January. Paid and
earned media, advanced TV, programmatic video, and social initiatives will all
be a part of the campaign, according to Sala, who added that travel advisors
will remain critical storytellers and stewards for the destination.
"This campaign reveals the moments that matter most,” Sala
said. “Family playing together on the beach, friends sharing a meal, playing
and enjoying good music. The message is simple but profound. The land, the
people, the stories of our Hawaii do not leave you. They imprint upon you. They
travel home with you.”
Sala also offered an early update on the $6 million marketing
campaign that the HVCB, along with state officials and stakeholders, launched
in June to help accelerate Maui's tourism recovery following the August 2023
wildfires in Lahaina.
“The most recent results indicate that
hotel performance has strengthened,” Sala said. “In July this year, island-wide
occupancy rose by more than six percentage points compared to the same month
last year. And the Lahaina-Kaanapali-Kapalua region reached 66.2% occupancy, up
from 57.9% in July of last year. While these are early metrics, they suggest
this campaign is helping to restore visitor demand – hallelujah – support the
local economy and reaffirm Maui's position as a premier destination.”
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