As Hawaii marks the 75th anniversary of its in-flight visitor survey — a cornerstone of tourism data collection — state officials are grappling with an eight-month disruption in tracking visitor trends.

The breakdown began March 1, when the state launched the Akamai Arrival pilot program to digitize agricultural declaration forms. Optional tourism questions, embedded in the paper forms, were removed. Although the pilot ended May 31, the state has yet to fully implement a digital replacement, leaving a critical data gap.

At its annual conference, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority announced plans to restore the survey via a new GoHawaii app, which will eventually integrate both agriculture declarations and tourism questions. However, the app remains in procurement, with a rollout expected earl

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