State officials and others are pushing on with a controversial concept for restarting Hawaii tourism.
159 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Bubble, Testing, & Tracking: Acceptable, Legal, Useful?”
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State officials and others are pushing on with a controversial concept for restarting Hawaii tourism.
Comments are closed.
Thank you for being brave enough to say what no other news pubs are saying — these policies are discriminatory against American citizens who live in other states. We have a trip to Hawaii scheduled for July and have been anxiously awaiting an announcement about the 14-day quar antine being lifted. That’s why we’ve been watching this situation very closely. The tone and messaging that Hawaiian officials are using towards their fellow American citizens from out-of-state is shocking and rude. They’ve been saying they want, “higher quality tourists” from other countries who will stay longer and spend more. Our family has spent a great deal of money visiting Hawaii in the past and this whole thing has been a giant slap in the face. I really can’t believe that government officials would treat other citizens from their own country this way when most travelers would be happy to undergo testing and follow any other safety practices the state puts in place to protect Hawaiian residents. I hope that, in the future, they will make rational decisions instead of emotional ones.
I would suggest a rational decision is opening up to the safest locals first rather then just let anyone come regardless of the infection rate
of where they are arriving from…..I would also suggest an emotional reaction would be to think you should be able to come here no matter what the risk to the state it presents
I can’t believe the lack of “Aloha” I am reading here. As a former resident that needs to go home and check on an 88 year old mother something needs to be done. Hawaii needs tourism to exist. Living in fear will not solve the problem. I live in Central Valley California and a senior, yet I know how to social-distance and stay safe. What makes you think that when we visit we will care less! Seriously Hawaii is and will always be my home. I know we all are frustrated with all that propaganda and thus should demonstrate more so what our islands and culture is all about – give and show “Aloha”!
They want to limit tourism but were incapable. The leaders are leaving and wern’t that great to start with. David Ige is in charge with no tourism experience. Good luck Hawaii =\. I hope I’m wrong! Id actually prefer that Paul is right!!
Hawaii deep down doesnt like Americans because they hold a grudge due to Hawaii being stolen by a group of businessmen that happened to be Americans. 1956 so its been awile but maybe now Hawaiians can let go of the hate and racist policies and words towards mainlanders.
No one is living in fear. And what “propaganda” are you talking about? C0VID is real; it’s killed over 110,000 Americans (including over 600 health care workers). California still has restrictions (as do a couple of dozen other states). Why should HI open all the way up just to please people who don’t want to wait?
Hi Moderators of best of Hawaii.
Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE moderate some of the hatred and politics out of the posts seen here? Also could you PLEASE remove conspiracy theorists posts who think that C0vid is a hoax? This is not doing anything positive for ANY OF US. PLEASE I am following the rules and that would really be appreciated for those of us who come here for information not to read hate mail towards Hawaiians local political officials or whatever. Thank you. Paul C
Hi Paul.
You should see all of the comments that we don’t post. It is a challenge and we do the best at moderating that we can. Thank you and others for your understanding.
Aloha.
LOL I BET! Thank you for what you do and for responding.
When we do come hopefully in September our goal is to ONLY give local Hawaiians business not big box stores or chains. Any recommendations on how to support the locals? Also are there places we can buy things now to help support Hawaiian businesses? Thanks again for what you do.
Hi Paul.
Thank you. Good question on shopping, and we don’t really have a good answer. You can buy from hyper-local businesses, for example our friends at Monkeypod Jam. There are a lot of other totally local businesses like that. Probably Google is your best friend in that regard. If you have anything specific you’re looking for, let us know and we’ll try to help.
Aloha.
I would love some Fresh Pineapple!
Hi Paul.
We buy them at farm stands often. Interestingly, without the visitors, Costco has a glut of Maui ones that they have been selling for $1.99.
Aloha.
A couple of years ago I used Laura Mae’s shopping service to get some stuff that you can’t get on the mainland. She was really nice and provided great service.
Don’t know if this site accepts links but she’s at lauramaesshoppingservice dot com. You also can email her: lauramaeshops at gmail dot com.
PS – Couldn’t agree more about the politics and conspiracy stuff. I can’t imagine the chore it must be to wade through it and delete at least the worst ones. Maybe there’s a way to automatically divert it to someplace like Reddit 🙂
Thank you Dave! We will definitely use her when we are able to travel!
There have been many locals on this site who have complained of tourists not following the rules on the beaches and not self-isolating after arrival. On the news, we frequently see public events all over the US where people are not following social distancing rules. These are not “assumptions” but observations of what happens… Unfortunately.
I’ll be relieved if all the people who say they’ll go elsewhere actually do it. Hawai’i doesn’t need people with negative attitudes like these: attitudes of some imagined false sense of entitlement, selfishness,disregard for locals’ safety with limited health resources, and on and on.
I laughed out loud at the person who expressed offense at feeling discriminated against! I bet the colour of that person’s skin is neither brown nor black. It does everyone good to live in someone else’s shoes sometimes. It helps develop empathy, which the large majority of people complaining about not being able to go to Hawai’i, seems to be lacking.
I have a ticket for Hilo for the end of January, 2021. I will gladly comply with any rules that are in place at that time because I want to protect the people of Hawai’i. If necessary, I will cancel my trip if is it still too dangerous for residents.
Yeah plan your vacations around what others want and strict rules. Aloha?? Lol I think most sane people would rather go where they are respected as tourists and as individuals. Hawaii is misguided and off track. Locals are being racist and bigoted and hell bent on their own wellbeing rather than moderation or finding a peaceful solution or happy medium that works for all
Oh for GODS SAKE CF really? Come on. ITS AN ISLAND 20 million visitors show up so will the damn vi rus. Lets knock this thing in the butt so we can all go back to enjoying life but to call Hawaiians racists? REALLY CF I hope you stay away because I would hate to run into you there. NO Hawaiian I have ever known was RACIST. I am very disappointed in this page allowing all this political BS. I come here for information not to see peoples hate and vitriol because they cant schedule a vacation right now.
Good Go never come back to Hawaii so that those of us who love the islands and their people can all enjoy it without you.
Dont get too upset Paul. Yes racist, complete with stink eye and kill howlie day remnant feelings. Its alive and well in Hawaii. Hawaii survives only because if tourists and the military. Without that it becomes a bananna republic. Like the lady working at a grocery store on maui that didnt care the restrooms were trashed by druggies shooting up cocaine or whatever. Sorry Paul but i wasn’t born yesterday
If Hawaii would like to be more like China then maybe USA should allow China to pay thier bills and stop federal aid. A little respect and patriotism goes a long way. Im not saying support trump etc, just show a little respect for others.
CF,
With your attitude toward the locals, I picture you as one of those tourists who gives the others a bad name. It’s unfortunate that you can’t enjoy Hawai’i without that giant chip on your shoulder. You would probably be happier vacationing elsewhere.
And just for a bit of help the, correct spellings are “haole, banana, and their.”
You expressed it perfectly! Hope your January trip works out. We’re booked for May 2021 (changed from 2020) but if need be we’ll push it back even further. Some people are so impatient and demanding, then they have the chutzpah to complain about a supposed lack of aloha. I agree; they’re not the kind of visitors that anyone wants.
Dave,
I agree with everything you say on here! You must be part Hawaiian.
Nancy (not the angry one with the Kihei condo)
I’m sure if c0vid was raging on the East Coast and all but contained on the West Coast and Hawaii
decided to cautiously open to the West Coast first their would be little outcry. Most would see the logic and not feel so outraged.
Every State is trying to customize what works for them.
So letting in tourists from relatively safe areas, regardless of their nationality is a great start, it’s not forever and Mahalo to you that are so outraged, it means you really care about Hawaii so I understand, but be patient.
This will all be behind us sooner then later, the worst appears to be over, we know much more now then we did 3 months ago and the wheels are turning to get tourism back.
Sooner then you realize Hawaii will be open, less crowded (for a little while) and as beautiful as it ever was.
(and if the “I don’t care about anybody but me so I’m not wearing a mask anywhere” folks stay away we’ll all be better off!)
I am a bit amazed at the number of USA citizens that are outraged as other countries being allowed to visit first. I would argue that you folks really do not know the history of Hawaii and the impact of USA control has done to the Islands. Hawaii government and citizens are just as invested in our travel to their islands as we are. Thinking anything different, like it is discrimination is just crazy. Disease spreads quickly, again review history, and know they are just trying to protect their own citizens, like they couldn’t when USA took them over. If only our country had or would address C0VID as aggressively as other countries, we would not be having this conversation!
AMEN Thank you Amber for your positive well thought out post
I am surprised at the amount of frustration and anger seen in many of these comments. Why are you taking this so personal? If you can’t go to Hawaii for awhile, it is just a delayed or changed vacation. For the residents of Hawaii, the lack of tourism is causing severe economic hardship. It is courageous and selfless of the Hawaiian residents to keep quarantines in place from locations that still have high rates of C0vid infection. Hawaiians are the ones suffering most from this policy. Because of its physical isolation it is not like other states in the union. Kauai, for example, has about 9 ICU beds and a similar number of respirators – there is no capacity to handle a large outbreak. How can one be anything but encouraging about bringing tourists from a C0VID free country to lessen the economic burden on Hawaiians while a plan to safely bring back mainlanders is worked out?
Thank you VERY WELL SAID!!!! Its good to see some positive instead of all the vitriol
Thank you
Please Let me know when we can go to the island of oahu
When it opens for tourists
Hi Gregory.
We most certainly will.
Aloha.
There seems to be a misconception. You can go right now. No one will stop you. You will have to quar antine for 14 days upon arrival. You can get food delivered from Safeway (O’ahu) and other sources including some ABC stores; also restaurants. Order by phone or online. No one is preventing anyone from going to Hawai’i.
We have been coming to Kauai for 25 yrs. It has become our second home, but to now hear that Hawaii is not going to allow their fellow Americans, US citizens, to visit the state, but to only allow international tourists is beyond disheartening. I am wondering how the Hawaiian government would feel if the state of Nevada, specifically, Las Vegas, would tell the fellow US state of Hawaii that “we don’t want you in Las Vegas”. How would the Hawaiians feel?
I am so disheartened by the Governor’s response to Tourism it has left a very bad taste in my mouth towards Hawaii in general. There is no longer an Aloha spirit.
“Hawaii is not going to allow their fellow Americans, US citizens, to visit the state”
This is totally untrue. Buy a ticket, get on a plane, go. No one will stop you.
It’s really hard to be polite when people post extreme untruths so they can complain about situations that don’t exist.
Ok thanks will do