No one knows right now where this is heading next.
388 thoughts on “Visitors Cancel as Governor Won’t Change Rules + Who Pays Quarantine?”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Visitors Cancel as Governor Won’t Change Rules + Who Pays Quarantine?
Cancun had 1.25 million visitors in November. How many would have been Hawaii visitors.
If test results don’t come in on time due to the lab taking 72+ hours or more the state can just wait. I am surprised there is no middle ground to work with tourists to quarantine until the results come in. Tourists are the ones supplying the state with the income Hawaii needs. How do you think people will talk about Hawaii on the mainland among friends? The tourists should be fully refunded if such an example happens, not refunding tourists is just robbery.
How is not defunding tourists robbery? People voluntarily agreed to participate in the safe travels program and thus should have understood the risks associated with things not working out. Yes it sucks not get money back but many travel partners such as airlines and hotels have the most flexible cancelation policies in history right now.
Beat of Hawaii has done a good job with providing people with the good, bad and ugly of what it is like to participate in the safe travels program.Hawaii doesn’t care about it’s perception on the mainland because of this because the demand for tourism to the State will still be there regardless… And actually it would be healthier for the islands if there were less tourism….
They say you need redults before you board. You get to hawaii and thats when it is stated 72 hours. 1 day too soon and you are quarantined. But if it wasnt taken at that time, no departure.
Taking another test- no upload. It has to be prior to departure.
The exempt form is asking to waive for personal information on submission. Unconstitutional for covid results?
Does this qualify as false imprisonment for failure to meet covid19 because as a consumer i am unsatisfied with these procedures being unconstitutional for the cruel and unusual punishment without crime.
Im in quarantine over a day. And reading this, appears it might get overturned.
When Im gone?
Hawaii doesn’t want travelers from US to come and spend their money over there on boring and overpriced vacations?! Well go somewhere else , Cancun is much more fun, no stupid requirements and testing, you don’t have to bring any dang Covid results, everything is open and safe , I was there myself recently and I’m fine, no bs Covid whatsoever…Another option Dominican , yeah take your money somewhere else and spend it there. Hawaii is the US territory and they have funding from the federal government, if it’s cut, this Hawaiian governor would be on his knees begging you to come…
First, Hawaii is NOT “the US territory”!! We are a state, and have been since 1959. The whole country is in the middle of a horrendous pandemic. Numbers are out of hand in almost every state. Hospitals are full, field hospitals are being utilized, refrigerator trucks are lined up in many places to store the dead bodies. Presently, Hawaii is one of the safest states. We would like to keep it that way, and that involves not letting tourists like you just come over without any precautions right now. People who test positive are a threat to everyone they come in contact with, and yet many don’t know they are positive.
And there are those are selfish and don’t care who they infect, such as several traveling nurses recently, who after getting several positive tests were out shopping in stores like Macy’s.
Unless you are willing to do your part to keep people safe, stay home.
Back in May I had booked a 10 day vacation in Kauai for mid February 2021 at the Koloa Landing in Poipu for my family 6 people (my wife, myself and 2 adult children and their spouses) We had a 3 room villa, 3 full size rental cars, 6 roundtrip airplane tickets, and many additional activities and tours planned including daily visits to local restaurants. ($$$)
This past week I cancelled the entire trip because of the uncertainty coming out of Hawaii and their changing visitor policies, and now Kauai’s most recent new rules for visitors. I can’t tell you how disappointed we all are, but until there is more certainty from the state I had to make a decision now and not wait till the last minute in order to get refunds on accommodations and airfares. We want to come to the islands, but the state needs to get their act together so that visitors don’t have to roll the dice on a trip.
My resort has just informed me that they won’t permit anyone to quarantine at the resort so if you don’t have the negative test on arrival they will cancel your reservation and you will have to find other accommodations or go back home!
Many thanks to BOH for keeping us informed.
Hi Judy.
Thanks. We appreciate the update about your resort’s policy. That isn’t unusual.
Aloha.
Can I get tested once arrive to Honolulu?
No, Wanda, you can’t get tested upon arriving in Honolulu as the safe travels program is currently constructed to avoid the 10-day quarantine.
For a pre-travel test to expect you from quarantine it must be taken from an approved safe travels partner no more than 72 hours before your departure to Hawaii and have the negative result uploaded before your plane departs for the islands.
Hope that explanation helps
Wish more airports had labs onsite. A lot of the stores are closed so there’s plenty of retail space available. It’s reasonable to ask for visitors to test before traveling. That being said there are a lot of legitimate reasons to travel to Hawaii – a lot of people have second homes and a lot of extended family go to visit them, often one group at a time. Looks like Christmas will be cancelled unless there’s some sort way through for people willing to follow the rules.
I get tourism is a nuisance but the state of Hawaii doesn’t really stack up in the rankings for tourism numbers. 10M for the state basks in the shadow of a few cities on the mainland. Washington DC gets 23M, Orlando gets 67M, heck 3 Key Wests would equal 10M. Arguably Hawaii doesn’t know what a “tourism problem” is. Visitation to a state is a normal and preventing Covid is fine but I see a failed policy that tends to be uncertain and unfair to people taking all the precautions and following the rules.
We just went to Maui after having our trip in May cancelled. The condo refunded our money, but airlines refused, said we had to use it by the end of the year or lose it. So we scheduled a trip for November 30th and scheduled test at Kaiser where the promised results in on or two days. As it got close Kaiser said they couldn’t guarantee quick test results. So finally after exhausting all other places we went to the ER and begged for tests paid $90 each and got the results that day, had filed all the papers on Travel Hawaii and printed them. We had a woman with two kids scheduled to go but after trying over a dozen places couldn’t get quick tests so cancelled. We still had to pay for the extra bedroom at the condo. Unless the governor changes this bad policy you will continue to lose visitors. Also when we checked in the airport we had a horrible woman who even though we had all the necessary documents and QR code demanded to know the exact time of our tests even though that wasn’t a requirement. This happened on November 30th at Maui airport. This caused us to have to sign into our medical accounts for which our passwords were at home, so we had to change both passwords and show her the exact time of the tests , which delayed usa half hour to forty minutes while our in law’s waited. This woman should be severely reprimanded for demanding this above the actual requirements which was just a tests negative in the last 62 hours before the flight. If you want people to come stop having people like her harassing travelers and change requirements to 96 hours. Once in we enjoyed our time there snorkeling, hiking, visiting Hana, arboretums and all the small communities on the island. We missed going to museums, but enjoyed restaurants , shops etc. Just make it easier to get there. We met struggling owners trying to make it in this limited time. The leaders should help their people by changing the travel policy to 96 hour test and getting through the check in with no hassle.
Hello, my wife and I have already rescheduled one trip back in September to this February. I know you don’t have a crystal ball, but with the vaccine going out will there still be a 14 day quarantine at the end of February? Thoughts?
Thank you for your time.
Hi Rusty.
We aren’t qualified to comment on vaccine progress. Nor can we say what Kauai will do, which has its own rules. Otherwise, if you come in February, however, you can certainly expect everything to be the same in terms of testing, masks, distancing, etc. Those don’t appear to be changing anywhere, at any time soon.
Aloha.
BoH has been the absolute best source of information on the Covid subject. I have been monitoring many Hawaiian media outlets for 3 months now, trying to determine the viability of our February Maui vacation, and BoH gives the clearest picture of the situation. We sadly pulled the plug last week – along with another couple – on both of our 40th wedding anniversary celebrations. The primary concerns were the unstable policy climate and sharing the experience of our beloved Maui (provided we were cleared to do so) under the threat of civil penalty if we let our guard down regarding restrictions. We – and our $ – will only return when Island life is back to 100% actual normal. Again – Thank You, BoH! Continue your impressive reporting! I’ll be here in the “Winter Wonderland” reading!
Hi TM.
Thanks for your first comment; we appreciate it. It is understandable that you canceled, although likely (which is obviously not good enough), everything would have been fine and you’d have had a great time. We hope you can return again soon.
Aloha.