When Do You Need A Passport For Hawaii Travel?

Fast-Changing: Variants May Keep Hawaii #1 Through 2022

The rapid spread of the Delta variant has resulted in many iconic destinations reimposing more restrictions and raising fears about more travel rules ahead. It looks like this uncertainty will keep Hawaii the #1 Travel Pick through 2022. See our personal notes on this below.

Today visitor Judy, said about the Hawaii travel boon: “Americans are anxious to travel in 2021 because they didn’t get to last year. Choices of places to go are limited; Europe, Canada, Mexico, cruises, etc., all have traveling problems, and so, “Let’s go to Hawaii!”

Please tell us this: Are you rethinking your 2021/2022 travel plans? If so, let us know where Hawaii fits in. Mahalo.

If you’re heading anywhere other than Hawaii, do some research. We did, and it is getting complicated once again.

Beach destinations in Mexico, French Polynesia, and the Caribbean.

In the Caribbean, for example, most destinations will require PCR testing for arrivals (as is the case in Hawaii for fully vaccinated only through July 7). Some places, however, do not allow non-vaccinated travelers to enter at all.

There are no regulations on entering Mexico, so you will only require a negative PCR test to return to the US. However, Mexico has seen a doubling of new Covid cases in the past month, and the CDC says, “Because of the current situation in Mexico, all travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”

Central American countries have a mix of changing regulations depending on whether or not travelers are vaccinated.

French Polynesia only allows fully vaccinated travelers to enter with a Covid test before departure and another one on arrival.

In addition, all passengers returning to the US from abroad will require PCR testing.

Europe, Australia, and Asia are complicated and getting more so. 

Slightly further afield from Hawaii, in Europe, Italy just lifted some controls, including its outdoor mask mandate. Portugal, however, has imposed a 14-day quarantine on some arrivals, and Spain will now require UK visitors to provide PCR tests. Greece, too will now require PCR testing of some arrivals, based on which vaccine they received. Moreover, Germany wants tightened rules of entry to the entire 26-country European Schengen area.

In Asia, Thailand has just gone into regional lockdown, Malaysia reversed plans last minute to extend its nationwide shutdown, and Hong Kong banning travelers from the UK.

Australia’s borders are closed. The only travelers allowed are its citizens, permanent residents, and immediate family members. Before COVID, your editors traveled to Australia often and were last there 90 days before Covid struck, never thinking what was ahead.

Hawaii a standout for US travelers: On Track To Reopen Next Week.

All this while Hawaii To End Testing July 8 For Those Vaccinated. Fully vaccinated arrivals (those vaccinated in the U.S.) will not require any testing, quarantine, or other travel restrictions in either direction. July 8 appears to be a date certain, as set by Governor Ige, and we do not expect any modification to that plan. Lt. Gov. Josh Green confirmed today that there has been no discussion about any possibility of that date being changed.

Our frequent commenter, Alfred from Oahu, said, “Global policies such as requiring a negative test result to return to the United States when traveling overseas. The fear of being stuck in a third world county when testing positive for COVID and having most of Europe and Asia being closed to outside visitors is really driving traffic to Hawaii.”

Jim, another regular, added, “You may feel that where you live is “back to normal,” but 14 mostly Midwestern states and now Europe are demonstrating that the pandemic is far from over.”

Your editors’ take.

Back in April, we shared that travel was returning to at or above pre-Covid levels. And predicting a massive summer rebound.

One study said there was “Unprecedented optimism from leisure travelers in advance of the summer travel season.” And that pretty much describes in a nutshell where things are at.

That study said that safety was integral to demand, and once again, that nails it. They said, “The top states of interest among U.S. travelers over the next two years are Hawaii (64%).” That is followed by Florida, California, Colorado, and Alaska.

In April’s study, only 19% of leisure travelers planned an international trip within the next six months. That, together with all of the new Delta variant changes since then is yet another big plus for domestic yet exotic Hawaii travel.

Personally, we would both like to travel abroad again, but plan on waiting until at least mid-2022, based on all this uncertainty and changeability. Who wants to play with all these variables if you don’t need to. So for us, Europe will need to wait for now.

Read: Updated Guide to 2021/2022 Hawaii Travel During COVID.

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49 thoughts on “Fast-Changing: Variants May Keep Hawaii #1 Through 2022”

  1. We originally made plans to visit Hawaii in May 2020. Once Covid raised it’s ugly head, we canceled those plans and rebooked for October 2020, assuming things would be fine by then. Sadly, we were wrong so we canceled those plans and rebooked for May 2021. Covid was still making it difficult to travel so we canceled those plans and rebooked for October 2021. In fact, if things went as planned, we would be there now. Unfortunately, with some of our reserved events having been canceled, we decided to cancel once again and are now rebooked for May 2022. I hope and pray we make it to Hawaii in May 2022! This will be our first trip to Hawaii and we really want to experience all Hawaii has to offer!

  2. we have a trip from canada planned to waikiki in april 2022. do you think it will be fully open by then?
    what testing will be required? we have had both pfizer vaccines.

  3. I am going to have some medical work done and was looking forward to spending some time in Hawaii for recovery. But the cost of everything has skyrocketed in the islands to the point of just not going. I will go somewhere, just won’t consider Hawaii.

  4. Hawaii has a ways to go till I go back. I have gone the last 3 winters, used to go for a month in the summers. the outrageous car rental rates will have to normalize. My favorite east Maui and kauai campgrounds are not open yet. The reservation systems for visiting many great areas are fine but they should apply to visitors and locals alike. Maybe reduced fees for locals but everyone that uses the parks should contribute.

  5. This is far from over.

    Due to the Delta variant LA county is requiring indoor masking of all individuals regardless of vaccinated status. CDC just announced that individuals who received the J&J vaccine should consider getting a Moderna or Pfizer shot. The J&J vaccine hasn’t done as well of protecting individuals from the Delta variant as Moderna or Pfizer.

    Now they’re mixing vaccines what could wrong with that.

    In a quick second Hawaii could shut down again

    1. Far from over in States like HI and CA… enjoy the next year..

      Meanwhile in States with fewer scared individuals and more common sense…life is good.

  6. It is mostly those who have been vaccinated who are now having “break through” CV and testing positive. The PCR tests have been proven to be not reliable, and many false positives. There are other more reliable tests available. People need to do their own research on these things rather than just accepting the media reports.

    I won’t be going anywhere unless I can drive there.

  7. What about the fully vaccinated people who got this vaccines in Canada? Are they eligible to enter Hawaii without covid tests? What if a person vaccinated in Canada is a U.S. citizen? Trying to figure out our travel plans for Hawaii, live in Canada, U.S. citizen.

  8. Someone dear to me works for the California Department of Public Health. They related that a high percentage of information provided by local, state and federal government agencies cannot be trusted.

    That covid testing and deaths are related to funding.

    Example if you test positive for covid 10 days in a row each positive test is counted as a new case. The higher your daily positive covid count is the more funding you received.

    They’re several examples of patients who’ve recover from covid only to pass several weeks later of sepsis, but are counted as a covid death. Federal government provides funding and resources for covid deaths none for sepsis.

    The same works for vaccine funding. The more vaccines distributed the more money you get from the federal government.

    Negative reactions to covid vaccinations are being suppressed, so individuals feel safe getting the vaccine and funding continues to flow from the federal government.

    Ask yourself why are state governments offering lottery money to get more people vaccinated? Its to keep the federal dollars flowing.

    That’s what bureaucracies do.

    People are having negative reactions to covid vaccines it is being under reported including my friend many of the people he/she work with are not vaccinated and do not plan on doing so.

    1. Richard with all due respect spreading misinformation. There is no funding incentive to any doctor or hospital to name something covid. That is a flat out lie and time after time has proven to be so.

      1. Paul talk about spreading misinformation where in my comment did you see anything about doctors or hospitals reporting on covid to get additional funding?

        I was only addressing local, state and federal government agencies.

        The person I’m speaking of is working from home where I’ve had the privilege of sitting in and listening to the agencies zoom meetings. That’s all they talk about is how to adjust covid numbers to get additional funding for their department.

        California fiscal year runs July 1st to June 30th for the last 3 months all meetings have been about funding and getting budget change proposals through senate committee hearings.

        1. Hi Richard and Paul.

          We just want to add that we appreciate both of you. Together, you two have penned more than 700 comments and are amazing contributors to Beat of Hawaii’s ohana. We cannot thank you enough.

          Aloha. R/J

        2. People can learn a lot from you Richard, thank you for sharing! I am definitely more scared of the vaccine than COVID itself, however myself and my husband were lucky enough (if you want to call it lucky) to get COVID (though we didn’t get tested, but had the exact same symptoms) and recover from it, the chances of getting COVID again are indeed extremely rare I have read (even the CDC website says so). All I know is that I know of just 1 person who died from COVID (don’t know them personally though), and many people who got COVID and recovered; husband’s sister’s husband and his old mom both recovered from COVID, husband’s father who has severe kidney disease got COVID and recovered, also his brother recovered from COVID, my own parents got COVID and recovered, family friends, brother’s friends all got COVID and recovered.

          As for the vaccine, sadly so far, I know of a few people whose lives were taken from it, and at least a few who have had severe complications due to the vaccine. My husband’s father (who got COVID and recovered…) then got the vaccine, and has developed blood clots in his arm, he has had to switch to doing dialysis through his neck instead of his arm as a result.
          It just saddens me that more people cannot consider real life stories and events, and just automatically dismiss them as misinformation. Based on my knowledge, the risk of taking the vaccine far outweighs the risk of getting COVID, as you could infer from my own personal knowledge/experiences above. But I am just a normal person, not some medical expert or anything, so I guess my knowledge/experiences don’t count, to some people anyway. A lot of people may just have a rude awakening, or maybe there will be enough “Medical proof” put out there, even as more people die or have severe complications after taking the vaccine, some people may still believe, no correlation to the vaccine. Who knows though, how long those people could have lived, if they hadn’t taken the vaccine?:(

        3. Thank you for having the courage to state some truths. As you experienced, there is censorship on anything that doesn’t fit the narrative. Obviously most states are suffering financial loss due to this year and half of no tax dollar revenues. But the truth is available if you look for it.

  9. We cancelled our trip to Maui for July 2021 earlier this year, rescheduled for July 2022, and I have solo trips to Kauai planned for May 2022 and September 2022.

  10. My wife and I returned from our Kauai vacation of 5-1/2 weeks and we loved it. The Aloha spirit was mostly alive and well. We spent lots of time talking with residents and for the most part they were happy to have tourists back. As far as the Safe Travels program goes, I’m happy for those going after July 8th to be able to travel with just vaccination proof. We’ll be back in 2022, as we go to Kauai every 2 years and always stay 5-6 weeks. Keep up the great reports BOH!

    1. Hi Tom.

      Thanks. Great to hear you had a wonderful time on Kauai and will be returning again soon.

      Aloha.

  11. We went to Iceland last month. There are nonstop flights from Boston and New York. We flew Kauai-Frankfort-Rekyavik. A great place to go now!

  12. It’s a shame that those of us who are now immune because we had covid are not free to move around as though we have been vaccinated. We have more and better immunity that the vaccines will ever give. Over 6000 deaths have been reported as a result of the vaccines and as many as 80% of a group of individuals in Israel got covid after being vaccinated. Total BS discrimination that follows no science whatsoever. Look up the Cleveland report on naturally acquired immunity, pretty much tells the story.

    1. You are NOT immune if you have already the virus once. After 1.5 years, researchers are still dealing with unknowns regarding this virus. You should be looking at The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) for the most accurate info. Please do us all a favor and get vaxed.

      Aloha.

      1. Nor are you immune after the available US “vaccines.” CDC, and all published data is very clear in stating it only decreases the severity of symptoms if you do contract the virus. It’s vital to have the facts in order to protect ourselves and our community.

        1. well would you rather have painful deathly Covid19 or not? Seems pretty simple to me. Less virus attack or full on.

    2. You are wrong Mary Kay about multiple things here, no the vaccine hasn’t caused “6000” deaths. People die of many things and you are likely making that comparison from our friends the conspiracy theorists use that attribute any death to someone vaccinated as caused by the vaccine.
      You are really playing with fire though if you think you are immune from the Delta variant because you had Covid (glad you are OK, not everyone was so lucky!)
      Getting vaccinated is a personal choice, as it should be. But what really mystifies me is why do some people need to try and talk others out of doing something that has been proven to save lives. Thousands and thousands of lives have been saved by the vaccine already, vaccinated people are not dying from Covid, unvaccinated are. Why do some people feel the need to try and talk others out of making their personal choice to potentially save their life?

      1. Hi John.

        We just wanted to chime in and say thank you for more than 200 comments. And keeping a gentle demeanor to boot.

        Aloha.

      2. Actually I know of 3 people who died from vaccine, including my mom’s friend son who was 40 died immediately acts vaccine, so no grey area there. 😉 when you say you cant assume death was from the vaccine because it could be due to other causes, do you apply the same logic to all the covid deaths they claim to be due to covid, or is your logic different for deaths due to covid, vs the vaccine? Just curious!
        Oh by the way, also we know of a married couple who BOTH got dementia after receiving vaccine 3 months ago. And a friend’s wife is blind from the vaccine, doctor report says it’s due to vaccine. Maybe you should have a little more understanding/respect for these people truly being effected/killed by these vaccines. And to say that the 6,000 deaths due to vaccines is false, how do you know for sure that it is false, do you personally know every single person in the United states or world to make this claim?

    3. Mary,
      You have been sold a bill of goods. Just because you had it does not mean you are immune from getting it again or getting a variant.
      Personally I am glad that Hawaii will allow fully vaccinated without testing. I dont care if you go personally but I am glad you and unvaccinated people will still have to test negative in order to come to Hawaii.
      Also that is complete lie that 6000 have died from the Vaccines. 600,000 american citizens died from Covid and what 3.5 million world wide?
      Tthat Israel thing is also bogus information. Israel sits at 85% vaccinated as of nwo.
      Total BS discrimination. This comment cracks me up. NO one is discriminating against you you simply have to follow a few other rules because your not vaccinated. LMAO stop reading every BS article and listen to science.

  13. Aloha, I have worked so hard at making these plans for going to the Big Island. We have a perfect room and hopefully a car. I am keeping our reservation as I know it will be a beautiful trip. We are vaccinated and going to get our test this week. Can not wait to be on this beautiful Island soon. I love reading all the positive responses on this page.
    Bev F.

  14. I have decided to put travel to Hawaii on hold indefinitely. While my love for the Islands will never leave my soul, I will wait to see what things look like in a couple of years. I feel this overwhelming surge of tourism is temporary as a result of everyone wanting to spread their travel wings again. Hopefully, the rental car shortage & high rates, the pending add on fees & COVID situation will settle. Was also surprised at how much tourists really are not welcome there. I have visited 21 times & the add on fees will have a part in my decision, so they may keep this tourist back on the mainland. We have found we can spend 3 months down south in the winter for what it costs me alone to come for 10 to 14 days to Kauai. So that too is something we need to reconsider before deciding on our next journey. Either way the Islands will alway be in my heart

    1. Thank you for keeping us updated on beautiful Hawaii. We are excited about our upcoming trip to Hawaii in September. Due to Covid-19, we had to cancel our trip to Hawaii 2 times. We are visiting 3 of your beautiful islands. We are fully vaccinated but will still wear masks and social distance and follow any and all rules and regulations. We have a deep respect for your beautiful people and your beautiful islands.

    2. I keep seeing how tourists are not welcome there. We were on Oahu for 10 days early June. Every single person we encountered whether it be condo staff, restaurant workers bar workers local stores or big stores every single person I met with the exception of a couple of drunk locals on the beach were welcoming. Glad we were there and treated us all kindly. We went to several local beaches (PS we didnt act like tourists we acted like we belonged) and everyone there was also super nice to us. So I think this whole thing about locals not liking tourists it may because of the way the individual tourist acts vs all of us as a whole.

  15. We are still debating on HI as resort we want to visit in Kona only has a few restaurants out of many open and reviews say seriously understaffed. It’s hard to tell what it might be like in Sept. Not to take business away from HI, which we enjoy. but if you are interested in French Polynesia I recommend signing up with Tahiti Tourism site as they constantly update you with criteria to travel there. They only allow travel from certain countries right now. They provide a self test upon landing that you do on your 4th day there and turn in and have a website similar to HI’s where you load up your vaccination certificate and fill out your safe travels info. Thank you.

  16. We already cancelled our march 2021 trip to kauai. We are,now looking to not to reschedule until 2023. Normally we are,in kauai every other year. I am hopeful by then this will be behind us.

  17. Aloha guys, hope all is well over there. we have been wanting to come visit but could not find a car!
    I just wanted to comment on the July 8th testing change. I think it’s really a counter-productive move to stop the testing and enable even more people to come. It makes no sense when we are completely over-run with tourists, on Maui at least. cant get into restaurants, no cars for rent, no place to park, no beach parking, etc. it is sooooo crowded. But now when they are finding that vaccinated people are coming down with the 50 % more contagious Delta variant and it is predicted to double in numbers every two weeks, why would we invite more of that to our state? Just makes no sense.
    Ane T

    1. Hi Ane.

      Thanks for your input and all your other comments. Sorry about the car situation. That is discouraging.

      Aloha.

      1. All adults and kids over 5 years old needs to be tested to fly to Hawaii.
        We just camw back from the Big Island. All 12 of us 8 to 68..
        Kids had no issue getting the test.

    2. Have to agree with this. Someone got it in their head that vaccines are the beat all end all, and instead they are going to help spread. Just another line item in the endless examples of Hawaii government getting it totally backwards. 🤦‍♀️

    3. Aloha Ane,
      Actually, the Delta Variant is a threat to unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people but poses a relatively low threat to fully vaccinated people. It is spreading in areas where there is a low vaccination rate. That being said, I feel we all should continue to be cautious. Get vaccinated. Wear our masks when necessary. Mahalo!

  18. Hello. What about children under 11, they are not vaccinated. Do they only need a negative covid test to enter Hawaii?

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