After an onslaught of tourists over the summer and a subsequent surge in COVID-19 cases, Hawaii Gov. David Ige urged visitors not to come to the island through October.
Now, Ige has tentatively indicated tourism could resume in earnest in the coming weeks as long as COVID-19 cases remain consistently low.
"I’m cautiously optimistic the trend will continue and we’ll be able to relax restrictions and get back to normal. I am hopeful that our holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be significantly better than last year," he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a live stream on Monday.
Towards the end of the summer, Ige pleaded with tourists to avoid traveling to the island in the wake of increased COVID-19 hospitalizations. In the weeks since, there was a small reduction in visitors and the number of daily cases has gone down by about two-thirds, Ige said.
Ige has vowed to ensure that restaurants and those in the hospitality industry are adequately prepared for the return of more tourists.
"We want to make sure when we invite people back, we have space and restaurants and other activities for them to do. So we will work through this week to look at how and when to do that. As we see trends continue, and we see lower and lower cases counts, we will be inviting tourists back and it’s just a matter of how we would do that," he said to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Although the decision was made to protect the island’s population from the COVID-19 virus, the economy has been hit hard by the pandemic and recently the reduction of tourism.
"The restaurants have reported that they’re seeing a 50% to 60% loss. Attractions are seeing $30 million in cancellations in bookings across the board," Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association President and CEO Mufi Hannemann said in an interview with local outlet KHON2.
Hotel occupancy over the summer was at 80% to 90%, and now it is down to 40% to 50%, according to Hannemann.
"So this has meant that workers hours have been shortened, people have been put on furlough, and that’s not a good trend," he said.
"The crisis for a lot of these households is really just the beginning or it’s just about to begin because the transfer payments are going away," said Hannemann in a House hearing on Monday.
During the hearing, Hawaii State Representative Scott Saiki said it’s important to start considering tourism options now as the holiday season begins and people begin planning their trips, as reported by KHON2.
"We don’t want unvaccinated travelers, we want vaccinated travelers to Hawaii, but the governor needs to speak out, clearly and quickly at this point," said Saiki.
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