French Polynesia

How Other Island Destinations Are Handling Tourism Now

While Hawaii tourism is closed, these island destinations are open and could provide insight if anyone is listening.

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48 thoughts on “How Other Island Destinations Are Handling Tourism Now”

  1. Aloha!

    It is frustrating for all of us who live here, too. My wife and I live on Kaua’i, and C0VID-19 is clearly damaging to our economy, just as it is on the mainland, where it has killed too many.

    We’d like to get back to the mainland where we have some rental properties to care for in Seattle, as well as be able to visit family there. We also have family in California, Arizona, Florida N.C., and R.I. whom we’d like to visit – but we can’t because travel to the mainland still poses too much risk.

    It shocks many of us that so many on mainland are not taking precautions needed to control the pandemic by wearing masks, social distancing, minimizing time near people, etc. as we do here on island.

    We’d like to welcome you back with Aloha, and get people back to work here soon. We too have to wait – please be patient, so you can come here without overwhelming our very limited health care system.

    Mahalo and malama pono!

  2. Am I missing something or is not California, Texas, Oregon rolling back their openings plus many other states are having record positive tests and hospitalizations due to major out breaks of the virus? The EU won’t let US residents fly there. I wouldn’t fault Hawaii if they shut the place down until next year. How can the Government of Hawaii come up with a plan when the infection rate for the virus on the mainland keeps getting worse?

    Thanks for the time, I love Hawaii but I’m willing to wait until it is safe for both myself and Hawaiians when I fly there.

    Dan

  3. I agree that testing (or at least a 2nd testing) after arriving would be ideal, however I don’t see how it can work here. As you pointed out, the other locations you listed don’t have the amount of tourists that Hawaii receives. Even if only half of our usual tourists arrived (which is what they projected 1 month after initiating the pre-testing program), that would be 15,000 tourists and tests PER DAY. We simply don’t have the tests or lab support for this. In addition, we could easily overwhelm our limited medical resources if we started finding COVID positive tourists. In a perfect world (or country) we would have as many rapid response tests as were needed. We all want tourists to return, but safely – not at the expense of our residents.

    1. Your assessment is impeccable. I wish more people would look at the obvious and ask the obvious. If the US is the world leader, then why can’t we adopt a WWII attitude and demand industrial production to adequately deal with identification, contract tracing, and isolation?

  4. We have been going to Hawaii for 20 plus years (lost count) we are now planning for the USVI and St. John, we’ve been there twice and based on Hawaii’s lack of concern for their own economy, we will be going east (from SLC).

    Mahalo,
    Craig

  5. Thank you for the update. I knew about Tahiti French Polynesia so I might skip my two days in Hawaii before and after and just go through LAX instead.

  6. I hope you are sending this info as well as previous info you give us about other destinations to the State and County. Perhaps they know this already, but make them aware that YOU know and that you are telling potential visitors via your website.

    1. If you’re retired or don’t work, then the foreign islands may be an option. But my firm and my wife’s hospital both mandate a 14-day quar antine if you return from a foreign country. So not really a vacation option.

  7. Had to cancel our Hawaii trip three times. I will not be back for several years. Hoping you have an entirely new Governor by then.

  8. We’ve rescheduled our Big Island trip twice now..I don’t think we will reschedule a third time but instead look for other destinations to spend our hard earned vacation money. I feel sorry for the residents of Hawaii and the terrible “leadership” or lack of that they have, your “leaders” are slowly killing the island economy.
    Thank you Beat of Hawaii for your information and articles..

  9. We have no choice but to reschedule our vacation for August 2020. When I booked the trip, they wanted to test within seven days and they just changed it today within 10 days which gives us a little bit more leeway. Everything else seems pretty simple. Fill out the form online upload your test and have the results in your hand and we are mask let’s just say pretty much all the time unless you’re on the beach or at the pool

    1. Your comment is very unclear. You do know that you will not be able to travel at all in August even with a test right?

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