91 thoughts on “2021 Hawaii Travel Recovery | 5 Essential Drivers”

  1. Just hope that Hawaii’s government takes the time to read BOH’s suggestions..
    Here’s to a better 2021 for us all.
    Mahalo for all you do …

    1. Hi Cheryl.

      Thanks. They are reading, but beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see what they decide.

      Aloha.

    2. Thank you BOH for keeping us all updated.

      First, we can all agree we care and want to protect the people of Hawaii.

      We had a family trip planned 4-1-20 for five on two islands. One being to visit friends who live there. We are still working on getting our trip costs back. One of our rentals was pushed into spring 2021 but we are not feeling good about traveling. Note some of our family has had covid.

      We worked hard to visit a place we love and respect but there are so many mean and crude comments about the Mainland and Hawaii. This pandemic has really divided people and it is concerning.

      I live in a state that borders four states. When the other states had restrictions they were all flocking to the state we live in – flooding our parks, lakes, everything. We too were concerned with our safety. So we understand the unwanted feeling regarding mainland travel to Hawaii.

      No one has all the answers. I know until things are safe we won’t travel. Its wonderful that some have access to the vaccinne so quickly but most of us will be waiting for it until late spring/summer.

      If people do travel – covid testing should be available and done right before you board the plane. I do not understand the logic of 72 hours before the last lag into the island. People should be tested right before flying to prevent infecting others. Temp checks and questions do little. Testing before boarding woukd help.

      1. Hi Sherilyn.

        Thanks. You’re the second person to just mention the importance of pre-boarding testing at the airport.

        Aloha.

  2. I think that it’s going to be a long time before we can count on vaccination as the panacea everyone’s looking for. Maybe years before efficacy can be quantified.
    That being said, what will the policy be towards those that choose not to vaccinate? Back to the antiquated quarantine situation?
    Hawaii needs to be moving on this post haste, as Spring Break is right around the corner.

    I would love to hear what you guys (BOH) have to say about the obvious elephant in the room.

    I wish you were put in charge of bringing Hawai’i tourism back off life support. No one has as much real-time experience as you two.
    Now.. what say you?

    1. Hi Pam.

      First, thanks, you are very kind! Yes, the elephant in the room situation. We haven’t heard a word about Hawaii travel contingency planning. Lt. Gov. Green is talking about vaccine travel and we are fearful that there could be too many eggs in that basket. Everyone wants to get past this though, so it is understandable.

      The islands need to also get pulled together into some form of travel consistency. And either the partners need to be able to guarantee 72-hour results or it needs to move to 96 hours.

      Lastly, we concur that quarantines and travel are antithetical.

      We’ll see how things unfold in January – both with the virus, vaccines, and updates from Hawaii on travel. There will definitely be announcements and changes next month. We’ll hold back from being overly optimistic, but these are the things we and many stakeholders would like to see.

      Aloha.

  3. People are really underestimating the level of pent-up demand for travel that is going on right now. The WSJ has an article today on the big travel plans that people have post-vaccine. The feeling of “not being welcomed” to Hawaii is irrelevant — the general public does not track Hawaii’s affairs enough to see this.

    So *if* the vaccine rollout runs on schedule, the summer of 2021 is likely to see the highest travel volume of any summer in Hawaii’s history.

  4. Vaccines are going to add to the confusion. From what I’ve read, it takes two weeks following the first vaccine dose for a person to get 50% immunity since your body has to have an immune response and produce antibodies. Then after the 2nd does is given, a person can expect up to 90% immunity after another 2 weeks. If that’s the case, then I think the rules will state that a person who has been vaccinated will have to supply the date of both vaccinations and will have to wait one month.

  5. Aloha,

    My thought is that everyone who lives on the islands should be high on the list for the vaccine given Hawaii’s unique economy and geographic isolation. Has there been any talk of that?

    Mahalo,
    JK

  6. We had to cancel our plans last March to visit Maui due to Covid and rescheduled our trip for this March. Do you think they will have better testing and faster results ready by then? We’re flying from Denver and to do United’s fast test is $200. for each of us. That’s an additional $600 for me and my two kids. I’m debating canceling and finding another tropical place to take them for their spring break. We need a vacation!

    Thanks,
    Wendy

  7. We need One State travel plan, eliminating the need for Any quarantine, with All islands following the same policy. And, we need it Now. How can any businesses expect to operate under the uncertainly and confusion of the various island policies? It’s madness.

  8. We were extremely nervous and concerned over traveling to Hawaii with the changing rules along with getting our COVID test and results back on time. We traveled with Hawaiian Airlines and used their partner Worksite Labs in Seattle. They made it so easy and we received our results in 18 hours far ahead of the 36 hours as promised. The Safe Travels site was not easy to upload our results from our phone so we had to use a computer. Lots of hoops to jump through but we made it without any glitches. Our kids fly out on Saturday and were tested this morning. We hope their experience is the same. We’ll keep you updated. As a side note the locals have been so kind and appreciative of the business we are bringing.
    Good luck to everyone and thank you to BOH! You were my source of info the whole way through.

  9. #2 is the one that needs to be clarified by the governor ASAP. We have a trip booked to Maui in late February and we “should” be vaccinated by then. The ability to travel without the hassle of getting tested will be, in my opinion, the best news for tourism not only to just Hawaii.

    Now, if only the governor can convince the dictator of Kaua’i to not screw it up…..

    Mahalo

    1. Hi Ed.

      Thanks for your many comments. The word was let’s not make any changes over the holidays. We’re certainly hopeful of clarification next week. Sigh.

      Aloha.

  10. I know that as long as Hawaii is mandating testing and/or vaccines they will no longer get mine or my families travel. Hawaii needs to open up. I beleive that mexico will see a large increase in their tourism as they are open and no requirements. That is where we will be spending our time.

    1. Once a sufficient number of their tourists and locals are able to get vaccinated, you can expect Mexico (along with most other countries) to require proof of vaccination for entry. This is a long-established practice that has been used for many other diseases in the past.

      1. But not for a virus that has a 99% survival rate. This has been so blown out of propotion. And I doubt that mexico will “bite the hand that feeds them” when their tourism is growing and Hawaii is bottoming out. We have family and friends in Hawaii that are really struggleing because they all work in the tourism industry.

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