International students contributed 381 million to Hawai'i's economy in 2019

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦 (𝐃𝐁𝐄𝐃𝐓) 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐢‘𝐢: Calendar Year 2019 report produced by DBEDT’s Research and Economic Analysis Division (READ), in collaboration with the department’s Business Development and Support Division (BDSD) and the Study Hawai‘i Educational Consortium. Estimates in this report were based on the Hawai‘i International Education Survey (IES) conducted during the months of May-September 2020 which covered data for calendar year 2019. The data does not reflect the economic impact of international students due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2019 direct spending of international students in the State of Hawai‘i was an estimated $185 million. This amount included tuition and fees plus living expenses. Based on this direct impact, the economic impacts of international student expenditures for calendar year 2019 were as follows:

• $381.2 million in economic output generated, including direct, indirect, and induce effects;

• $29.2 million in state taxes generated;

• $168.4 million in household income generated; and

• 3,756 jobs supported by international student spending.

The overall average annual per student spending was $13,838, including living expenses and tuition and fees across all programs, for calendar year 2019. The state’s public higher education system, the University of Hawaiʻi 10-campus system, accounted for about 45.5% of the direct spending and total economic output generated by international students attending schools in Hawaiʻi.

“International students have positively contributed to Hawai‘i and our economy for many years,” stated DBEDT Director Mike McCartney. “They have helped to expand our marketing and promotion efforts to reinforce the message that Hawai‘i is a place where the world comes to learn. In 2019 these students brought an international perspective to our communities as well as spending, tax revenue and jobs to our state. The growth of this industry sector is one of the strategic initiatives we intend to pursue for the state’s economic diversification and expansion.”

“While the COVID pandemic has added a pause to travel to Hawai‘i, we are confident that international students will continue to seek educational opportunities in the state in the near future”, said Dennis Ling, administrator of BDSD. “Our department hopes to continue its efforts to attract international students to the state once the pandemic is controlled.”

The 2020 IES received responses from 44 of Hawai‘i’s educational institutions, covering data for the 2019 calendar year. The responding institutions for the current survey represented 13,371 international students.

The report is available at https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/economic/reports/2020-10-foreign-student.pdf