The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) recently released the results of its Q4 2023 survey, which found that at least 95 percent of visitors from the U.S. West, U.S. East, Canada, Japan, Oceania, Korea, and China rated the Hawaiian Islands as having met or exceeded their expectations. The majority of visitors said they are very likely to recommend Hawai‘i to their friends and relatives.

Overall satisfaction levels among visitors from  remained high, with 89.6 percent of visitors from the U.S. East and Canada rating their most recent trip to Hawai‘i as “excellent,” followed by 87.5 percent from U.S. West, 83.9 percent from Korea, 78.6 percent from Japan, and 78.5 percent from Oceania. First-time visitors from Japan gave higher mean scores than repeat visitors from this region.

More than 90 percent of visitors from all markets rated Hawai‘i as “excellent” or “above average” when it comes to being a safe and secure destination, including 99.0 percent from Canada, 97.8 percent from the U.S. East, and 97.8 percent from the U.S. West.

Of those surveyed, at least 58 percent of visitors indicated they were “very likely” to return to the state of Hawai‘i in the next five years, with U.S. West, Hawai‘i’s largest major market area, leading the way at 82.6 percent. Nearly three-quarters (73.5 percent) of visitors from Korea, followed by 65.4 percent of visitors from the U.S. East and 58.6 percent of visitors from Japan, said they are likely to return in the near future.

Similar to previous quarters, all markets surveyed cited Hawai‘i’s high vacation costs as the biggest barrier to returning in the next five years.

The latest survey results also showed that the experience on Maui among visitors from the U.S. and Canada improved since the devastating August 2023 wildfires in Lahaina. The percentage of visitors to Maui who rated their trip “excellent” increased to 87.8 percent among visitors from the U.S. West, 89.3 percent from the U.S. East, and 90.8 percent from Canada. Additionally, the percentage of visitors from these markets who said they are “very likely” to return to Maui in the next five years increased among the U.S. West (75.5 percent), U.S. East (62.1 percent), and Canada (67.5 percent).

Full results from the Q4 2023 VSAT are available online at: www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/visitor-satisfaction-and-activity/