Imminent announcement on Hawaii tourism as PR nightmare continues.
308 thoughts on “Hawaii Tourism Reopening Plans This Week as Feds Get Involved”
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Reopening is obvious. It’s obvious the chokepoint will be air travel. When they figure out a way to keep infected people off planes – everywhere – people will feel safe to travel. Distancing on an airplane is not possible. Hawaii, international travel and cruises require airplanes. When that is solved, the world will reopen.
Aloha from Maui! I believe one of the first questions that must be answered is could each island be able to provide adequate medical care in the event of an uptake of infections. The shortage of facilities and medical staff makes that a resounding no. Our county has one primary hospital which was also the hot spot of infection spread. Even though we survived that I do not believe enough has been done to deal with a tourist influx without severe restrictions.
Really Lynda? Can you cite any sources or facts to back up your position. Because, on the big island, for example, we’ve been told repeatedly that there are around 450 total hospital beds on the island… and yet to date have only had a handful of patients requiring hospitalization–in TOTAL–from DAY 1–and currently have between 0 and 1 patience in hospital on the island. So… where are these “shortages” you speak of located in Hawaii? If anything, 2+ months into the so-called “pan demic”, all I see in Hawaii–and most places around the country–is excess health care capacity–and masses of completely healthy-yet-unemployed people.
Look at the mainland and the lack of guidence and dangerous conditions being promoted by some gov’t officials. The moment you open the gates, the cases in Hawaii will start to increase. Tough choices ahead.
We have been frequent visitors to Maui now for years, we have booked our vacation way in advance (last year) to visit this July 2-9th I’m hoping that Maui tourism is back up and running as we have already planned where all our money will be spent there as well. If we have to cancel of course we will reschedule but I think the sooner the better.
That was when our trip was scheduled and we booked it a year in advance as well. There was no way were were going there with the quar antine as well as everything nonoperational. Thank goodness we got our airfare back from Alaska as well as our VRBO deposit
This decision is THE most important economic decision that the State must face. Here’s the rub. Opening up to tourism without some level of caution flies in the face of advice from public health experts. While numerous states are allowing full opening and returning to regular large social contacts (see Wisconsin’s Supreme Court decision where bar hopping went crazy the day after), a resurgence of cases is inevitable. So other states’ decisions about their citizens means that Hawaii’s caution would be to no avail.
I’m hurting. My business is hurting. We want the safe return of our visitors.
Judging from the action of your State’s leadership I get the distinct impression Hawaii doesnt want tourists.
Aloha Kalani. I believe Hawaii wants tourists when the time is right. If opened too soon, we might see a resurgence of this that could far outnumber the cases, and deaths we’ve previously seen. Nobody wants that, no matter how much our businesses are hurting. I’m sure people coming to the islands also want to know they’re safe. Beaches, restaurants, etc. must be safe for all concerned. Please come when you can truly enjoy the beauty and aloha of Hawaii. Mahao, and be safe.
Hawaii NEVER “wants” tourists. It simply cannot live without their money.
Hawaii appears hopelessly lost, trying to decide how and when all-important mainland tourism will resume.
That in a nutshell is everything you need to know about Hawaiian politics. Since virtually every elected office in this Deep Blue…they look for Party “unit” (read consensus) before taking a position. No one wants to be seen as walking out of line for fear that their next elected position will not get Party support. If not Party support you have no chance to win.
Ige has proven incapable of making the critical big tough decisions – Rail, TMT, COVID. He is bound tight by a cultural consensus paradigm.
Stated before and will do so again:
The goal of flattening the curve, for the thousandth time, was to avoid swamping the health system. If we’re now shifting the argument to “buying time” so we can develop a therapeutic or vac cine, let’s say that out loud — and then let’s hear some prospective timelines.
Because here’s the problem: if we’re just waiting while tens of millions of people lose their jobs, and fall into poverty and despair, and we have no timeline, that’s not a plan.
That’s just hope. And hope isn’t a plan.
“The goal of flattening the curve, for the thousandth time, was to avoid swamping the health system. If we’re now shifting the argument to “buying time” so we can develop a therapeutic or vac cine, let’s say that out loud — and then let’s hear some prospective timelines.” <- the moving goal line is a big part of the problem, both in HI and beyond.
The rhetoric in CA (where I live) has absolutely left the "flattening the curve" line and has basically said we're trying to stomp out the vi rus. That ain't happening if we continue to merely shelter in place while waiting for a hypothetical treatment/vac cine — leaving alone the impending livelihood/economic catastrophe if said treatment is a non-negotiable.
There is simply no guarantee of effective vac cine/treatment… ever. We need serious thinkers to find a way to live *with this* and not hide until we can [hopefully] eradicate it.
Hoping Hawaii and beyond realizes this and is willing to establish public policy that can be reconciled with this reality.
I’ve been checking everyday to see what Hawaii is going to do. We are scheduled to come in July and I thought, certainly by mid to end of July we’ll be fine… but now I’m not so sure! 🥴
We had to put off our May 1st thru 11th trip to Honolulu. We were disappointed but TOTALLY are on board with not only our safety but the safety of all the locals. We are hoping to be able to come in September so we are tentatively rebooking our flights. Fingers crossed!
We look forward to enjoying all the touristy things for a few days then we plan to visit local everything restaurants you name it! We want to be sure and spread the money we bring with us around the islands so that everyone can benefit from our visit.
The lack of movement in Hawaii is very discouraging to all of us. Being an island does have benefits as numbers were lower than many states on the mainland. The lack of any direction form state executives to have at least a plan in place (you have not had more than 10000 visitors since you shut airlines down (except for cargo) tells me the public needs to start voicing concern that a vital portion of the economy is not bringing in revenue. Handouts and printing of money is not the answer as the world slips on by Hawaii.
Being on Maui, I can attest to how ‘lost’ the State’s response appears, which is then put on the County’s shoulders to work out viable solutions that take into account the fine balance between the health and safety of its citizens with the urgency of reopening the economy.
By the way, big props to the Lt. Governor, he is doing a great job at keeping us informed in regards to this, I wish Ige had others in his administration to take charge on the economic front.