Hawaii national park sites attracted 4 million visitors in 2021, study finds

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Nearly 4 million people visited Hawaii’s eight national park units in 2021, spending an estimated $438 million in local communities across the state, according to a National Park Service report.

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, buoyed by an active volcano in the later half of 2021, led the way with 1.3 million visitors, who spent an estimated $117 million in nearby communities.

National park visitation and spending in Hawaii were down in 2021 overall — and particularly off in 2020 — compared with previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic. National park units were closed in April and May 2020.

In Hawaii the national park units are among the top attractions for tourists looking for activities beyond spending time at the beach.

At Hawai‘i Volcanoes, visitation and visitor spending have been down since 2018, when damage from the devastating Lower Puna eruption and summit collapse forced officials to close the park. While local spending in 2021 reached an estimated $117 million, it was nearly $50 million less than what visitors spent in 2017.

This year’s numbers are likely to be even higher as the current eruption at Kilauea Volcano continues to attract thousands of visitors each day, drawn largely by a massive lava lake within the summit crater, Halemaumau, that can be viewed from a safe distance from various points along the crater rim.

“Visitor spending benefits the island economy, and visitors who recreate responsibly, plan ahead and respect this sacred Hawaiian landscape also benefit the national park,” HVNP Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a news release.

At Haleakala National Park on Maui, 853,000 visitors spent an estimated $61 million in local communities in 2021. The number of visitors was a substantial increase over the 319,000 people who came to the park in 2020, but it was significantly less than the 994,000 visitors in 2019.

According to the National Park Service report, the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument saw 1.2 million visitors and registered local spending of $223 million — although it doesn’t break down how much spending and visitation occurred specifically at Pearl Harbor National Monument.

The World War II Valor in the Pacific monument, featuring the USS Arizona Memorial and sites in three different states — Hawaii, Alaska and California — was separated into different units in 2019. The USS Arizona Memorial is now part of Pearl Harbor National Monument.

The 2021 National Park Visitor Spending Effects report is an annual peer-reviewed report prepared by economists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service.

Across the nation, visitor spending in communities near national parks generated a $42.5 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 322,600 mostly local jobs, according to the report.

In Hawaii, the report said, visitor spending in 2021 supported a total of 4,610 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state of $607 million.