Visitors exit the baggage claim at Kahului Airport in February 2021. Last year Maui saw nearly 2.3 million visitors, which still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels of 3 million visitors in 2019, according to a recent report. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Maui saw nearly 2.3 million visitors last year who spent a total of $4 billion, closer to pre-pandemic numbers but still lagging behind 2019, according to a recent report of preliminary visitor statistics by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

For 2021, Maui saw 2,299,476 visitors compared to 792,602 visitors in 2020 and 3,059,905 visitors in 2019.

Total visitor spending in 2019 was at $5.13 billion.

Comparable visitor spending statistics were not available, as departure surveys of visitors could not be conducted April through October 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the report said. In some cases spending data only came from U.S. visitors, as data from visitors from other markets were unavailable as a result of limited fielding due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Overall, the state saw around 6.8 million visitors in 2021, which is more than double the roughly 2.7 million visitors in 2020 but still below the 2019 totals of around 10 million visitors.

In 2021, visitor spending in Hawaii hit $13 billion, which is a drop of 26.6 percent from the $17.7 billion spent in 2019, the report said.

A similar pattern occurred in December, with visitor numbers beating out 2020 totals but still lagging in visitor arrivals and spending totals as compared to December 2019.

In December, Maui saw 235,433 visitors, compared to 91,171 visitors in 2020 and 275,419 visitors in December 2019. Visitor spending was $499.7 million, down 2.6 percent from the $513.1 million spent in December 2019.

Across the state in December, there were 753,670 visitors, all by air, compared to 236,575 visitors in 2020, also all by air. In 2019 there were 952,441 visitors, who arrived by air and cruise ships.

Cruise ship services started up again in Hawaii this year, with the first ships since the start of the pandemic arriving to Maui last month.

Total spending in the state in December was $1.66 billion, as compared to $1.75 billion in December 2019.

“The U.S. visitor count in December 2021 was the eight consecutive month surpassing the same month compared to 2019 levels and the international count at 77,748, at the highest level since March 2020,” said DBEDT Director Mike McCartney in a news release.

He added that the emergence of the omicron variant spreading across the U.S. and detected in Hawaii in December resulted “in the slowdown in arrivals that will likely continue through the first quarter of 2022.”

“As long as Hawaii remains a safe destination we can regain our momentum with visitor arrivals to recover in the second quarter of this year,” McCartney added. “We remain on target to welcoming more visitors in 2022 that we did in 2021.”

Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic and Hawaii’s quarantine requirements for travelers, the state achieved record-level visitor expenditures and arrivals in 2019 and in the first two months of 2020.