Destination travel looks different from one place to another: Hawai‘i measures visitor days and island spending, Florida reports record arrivals, and Las Vegas tracks rooms, conventions, and air passengers. Together, these figures show how destination scale, visitor mix, transport, and local economic impact shape independent travel decisions.
Contents
- Destination scale and visitor volume
- Hawai‘i: arrivals, stays, and spending
- Hawai‘i by island and origin market
- Florida’s record visitation
- Las Vegas accommodation and access
- New York City’s visitor economy
- U.S. travel demand and forecasts
Destination scale and visitor volume
The destinations in this dataset span very different travel models. Florida welcomed 142.9 million visitors in 2024, while New York City welcomed 65 million in 2025. Las Vegas recorded 41,676,300 visitors in 2024. Hawai‘i recorded 9,701,499 total visitor arrivals in 2024.
These totals are not directly interchangeable. Hawai‘i reports arrivals to an island destination, Florida reports visitors across an entire state, Las Vegas reports visitors to a metropolitan destination, and New York City reports an annual city total. The measurement years also differ: Hawai‘i, Florida, and Las Vegas figures describe 2024, while the New York City figures describe 2025.
| Destination | Measurement period | Reported visitors or arrivals |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 2024 | 142.9 million visitors |
| New York City | 2025 | 65 million visitors |
| Las Vegas | 2024 | 41,676,300 visitors |
| Hawai‘i | 2024 | 9,701,499 arrivals |
Source labels: [VISIT FLORIDA 2024 record visitation release], [NYC Tourism 2025 annual report], [LVCVA FAQ 2024], and [Hawaii Tourism Authority 2024 Annual Visitor Research Report]. No source URLs were supplied for these reports, so the labels are retained without destination links.
Hawai‘i: arrivals, stays, and spending
Hawai‘i recorded 9,701,499 total visitor arrivals in 2024, up 0.5% from 2023, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority 2024 Annual Visitor Research Report. Air arrivals reached 9,533,375, up 0.4% year over year. Cruise-ship arrivals totaled 168,123, up 6.7% from 2023. The different growth rates show that cruise travel expanded faster than the overall arrival count, although air travel remained the dominant arrival channel.
The destination recorded 84,516,023 total visitor days in 2024, down 2.2%. Average length of stay was 8.71 days. Hawai‘i’s average daily census was 230,918 visitors, down 2.5%. Visitor days, average daily census, arrivals, and length of stay measure related but distinct parts of destination demand: arrivals count trips entering the destination, visitor days capture time spent, and the daily census estimates the average number of visitors present on a typical day.
Spending remained substantial. Total visitor expenditures reached $20.578 billion in 2024, down 0.8%. Total by-air visitor spending was $20.4887 billion. Per-person-per-day spending was $243.50, up 1.5%, while per-person-per-trip spending was $2,121.10. The combination of higher daily spending and lower total expenditures is consistent with the importance of visitor volume and duration in the overall result, but the supplied figures do not provide enough detail to calculate a causal explanation.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority also reports different spending levels by origin market. U.S. West visitors spent $229.80 per person per day, and U.S. East visitors spent $264.60 per person per day. Per-person-per-trip spending was $1,483.50 for Japan, $2,448.80 for Canada, and $2,687.60 for Europe. These measures should not be ranked as though they describe the same unit: the first two are daily spending figures, while the latter three are trip totals.
Hawai‘i by island and origin market
Island-level spending varied considerably in 2024. O‘ahu generated $8.9449 billion in visitor spending, up 0.6%. Maui generated $5.3003 billion, down 8.5%. Kaua‘i generated $2.8733 billion, up 2.9%, and Hawai‘i Island generated $3.2237 billion, up 6.4%.
The visitor-day totals provide another way to compare the islands. O‘ahu accounted for 40,850,180 visitor days, Maui for 18,702,634, Kaua‘i for 10,377,258, and Hawai‘i Island for 13,446,847. Hawai‘i Island also recorded 1,735,380 visitor arrivals in 2024. The island totals are useful for independent travelers because they point to different destination scales, but spending and visitor-day totals should not be treated as prices or average budgets without additional calculation inputs.
| Hawai‘i destination | Visitor spending in 2024 | Visitor days in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| O‘ahu | $8.9449 billion | 40,850,180 |
| Maui | $5.3003 billion | 18,702,634 |
| Kaua‘i | $2.8733 billion | 10,377,258 |
| Hawai‘i Island | $3.2237 billion | 13,446,847 |
Average daily census also differed by island. O‘ahu’s was 111,613 in 2024, Maui’s was 51,100, and Kaua‘i’s was 29,689, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s 2024 Annual Visitor Research Report and Kaua‘i page. Those figures describe visitors present on an average day rather than the number of arrivals during the year.
Hawai‘i’s origin markets were led by the U.S. West, with 4,997,064 air arrivals in 2024, followed by the U.S. East with 2,373,437. Japan supplied 708,233 air arrivals, up 20.2%. Canada supplied 445,984, down 6.1%. Other Asia supplied 222,302, Oceania supplied 203,473, down 13.8%, and Europe supplied 117,962. Latin America supplied 32,479, up 15.5%.
Florida’s record visitation
Florida welcomed 142.9 million visitors in 2024, a 1.6% increase from 2023, according to the VISIT FLORIDA 2024 record visitation release. The fourth quarter drew 33.1 million visitors, the highest fourth quarter on record. The scale is driven mainly by domestic travel: Florida had 130.7 million domestic visitors in 2024, up 1.3%.
International segments added a smaller but growing share. Florida had 8.9 million overseas visitors, up 6.6%, and 3.3 million Canadian visitors, up 1.2%. Domestic visitors accounted for 91.5% of Florida visitation, overseas visitors for 6.2%, and Canadian visitors for 2.3%. These percentages describe the reported visitor mix and are useful when considering how strongly a destination depends on domestic versus international demand.
Accommodation and transport indicators also increased. Florida hotel occupancy rose 6.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Annual room nights sold increased 1.6% in 2024, while total enplanements at 19 major airports grew 3.1%. For independent travelers, these indicators describe destination activity at different points in the trip: room nights reflect lodging demand, and enplanements reflect airport passenger movements.
Las Vegas accommodation and access
Las Vegas welcomed 41,676,300 visitors in 2024 and hosted 5,994,800 convention delegates, according to the LVCVA FAQ 2024. The convention total helps distinguish business and event travel from the broader visitor count, although the supplied figures do not state how many convention delegates are included in the visitor total.
Total hotel occupancy was 83.6% in 2024, and weekend hotel occupancy was 90.8%. The average nightly room rate was $193. Las Vegas recorded 46,801,000 annual room nights occupied. Together, these metrics show a destination with strong lodging utilization and a meaningful weekend peak. Occupancy is a share of available rooms, while room nights occupied is a count of sold room nights, so they are complementary rather than duplicate measures.
Air access was also substantial. Las Vegas had 58,447,782 annual enplaned and deplaned airline passengers in 2024. This is an airport passenger measure and should not be read as the number of unique visitors: one traveler may produce more than one passenger movement, and the measure includes both arrivals and departures.
New York City’s visitor economy
New York City welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025, up 0.7% from 2024, according to the NYC Tourism 2025 annual report. Domestic visitation was 52.4 million, up 1.7%, while international visitation was 12.5 million, down 3.2%. Leisure visitation was also 52.4 million, equal to 99% of 2019 peak levels. Business visitation was 12.6 million.
The categories overlap in ways that matter when interpreting them. Domestic and international classify visitors by origin, while leisure and business classify trips by purpose. As a result, the figures should not be added across those two classification systems. The reported totals instead provide separate views of New York City’s visitor base.
Tourism generated $84.7 billion in total economic impact in 2025 and $55.6 billion in direct spending. It generated $7.5 billion in tax revenue and supported 397,000 jobs. Total economic impact is broader than direct spending, so these figures represent different layers of the visitor economy rather than a simple sequence to add together.
U.S. travel demand and forecasts
The U.S. Travel Forecast 2026 projects U.S. travel spending at $1.37 trillion in 2026 and $1.42 trillion in 2027. Domestic travel accounts for 87% of all U.S. travel spending. Domestic leisure travel spending is projected at $909 billion in 2026, while business travel spending is forecast at $319 billion.
International travel is also expected to expand in the forecast. International visitor spending in the United States is projected to rise to $178 billion in 2026, and international visitation is forecast to reach 70.6 million. The same forecast reports that the U.S. travel trade deficit reached $72 billion in 2025. These are estimates or forecasts, not completed-year measurements, and they should be read separately from the 2024 and 2025 destination results above.
More current indicators in the U.S. Travel Insights Dashboard show $113 billion in U.S. travel spending in March 2026, up 5.0% year over year. The U.S. Travel Price Index rose 5.8% in March 2026. Gas prices were up 19.2% year over year in that index, and airline fares climbed 14.9%. These price movements matter for independent travelers because transportation costs can change the practical budget even when destination demand remains strong.
The WTTC U.S. market report says the U.S. Travel & Tourism sector supported 20.4 million jobs in 2025. It also reports that U.S. international visitor spending fell 4.6% to US$176 billion in 2025, while U.S. domestic visitor spending remained at US$1.54 trillion. The report says the U.S. Travel & Tourism sector contributed US$2.63 trillion to global GDP in 2025 and that China’s Travel & Tourism GDP reached US$1.75 trillion in 2025.
For destination planning, the central pattern is variation: visitor totals can rise while a particular market falls, occupancy can be higher on weekends than across a full year, and spending can be reported per day, per trip, or across a whole destination economy. Keeping the geography, measurement period, unit, and forecast status visible is essential when comparing travel statistics.