Hawaii Tourism Not Starting Up Until Late Summer

[montreid]

Still holding hope for Aug 1 - have Southwest booked on points so easy out.
Backup with Disneyland already and Yosemite passes cause I doubt folk will have their act together in time, but still not going to cancel until we have to.

 

[Sepo]

Still holding hope for Aug 1 - have Southwest booked on points so easy out.
Backup with Disneyland already and Yosemite passes cause I doubt folk will have their act together in time, but still not going to cancel until we have to.

anything’s possible but if I were a betting man, I think they’ll extend the quarantine but possibly / hopefully have a quarantine exception protocol in place by then- perhaps based on the plan described by the Lt Gov in conjunction w CVS sites. That protocol will not be foolproof of course (for all the reasons discussed earlier) but may offer a window for motivated travelers.

 

[JM23457]

Sadly, just cancelled our trip for early fall. It's impossible to plan for anything within 3-6 months for Hawaii right now - no clue when they'll allow visitors in from the US mainland without some crazy quarantine requirements. No clue what will be the other restrictions once they do 'reopen'.

Same here. I'm not putting any money down on a pre-2022 Hawaii trip. For us it's too much to invest & too far to fly, to deal with the uncertainty & restrictions that don't seem to be going away anytime soon. After they reopen, there will be health issues as they'll have lower community immunity levels than mainland U.S. due to their extreme self-imposed isolation. To succeed they'll either need to face reality & begin reopening, or manage to stay locked up until a vaccine is widely available, assuming half the state's population isn't homeless & hungry by that time. Madness.

 

[montreid]

If we want to cast stones -- madness is what is happening in Vegas. I hold no ill will toward Hawaii or any other country like New Zealand or Taiwan is doing.

 

[gregf71]

Well, with the official extension today, it sure made our decision about out July 7th arrival easier. Managed to get a chat session with Hawaiian Airlines tonight and at first they pressed the "future travel voucher" option. I questioned if our flights were still active because I couldn't find them online for new bookings...highly doubted that they could've been sold out, but possible I suppose. Suddenly, the HA person came back to me with an apology, telling me that the flights were indeed canceled. Full refund in process. Emailed myself the chat session log...which popped onto my Inbox 5 seconds before the flight cancellation email from Hawaiian Airlines arrived. Amazing timing!

A little follow-up with props to Hawaiian Airlines. When my flight was canceled and they told me a refund was initiated, they said it would take "one to two billing cycles." I interpreted that to mean 1 to 2 months. Well, they initiated the refund on Wednesday of last week and the credits appeared on my card yesterday (Sunday evening)!!! 4 days friends...that was impressive! Mahalo HA!!

 

[Galun]

If we want to cast stones -- madness is what is happening in Vegas. I hold no ill will toward Hawaii or any other country like New Zealand or Taiwan is doing.

I think it's just an indication that some (many) states chose the economy over the risk of lives lost due to the coronavirus. The virus had spread beyond the point of control in the US. So what do you do at this point - shut down the economy indefinitely which affect the vast majority; or build surge hospital capacity / enforce mitigation measures like masks / social distance as best you can during the shut down, then open up the economy and let those at risk quarantine themselves, and the higher number who get sick will hopefully be handled by the newly expanded capacity?

Island nations like New Zealand and Taiwan are different. I can understand their isolation and quarantine as they are not dependent on tourism. Now, Hawaii's biggest economy is tourism. And during this precious time bought from the shutdown at huge economic cost, AFAIK they had done nothing to expand their capacity to handle the inevitable surge if they open the economy. It's almost as if they plan on shutting down indefinitely. Frankly it's mind boggling.

 

[Galun]

Same here. I'm not putting any money down on a pre-2022 Hawaii trip. For us it's too much to invest & too far to fly, to deal with the uncertainty & restrictions that don't seem to be going away anytime soon. After they reopen, there will be health issues as they'll have lower community immunity levels than mainland U.S. due to their extreme self-imposed isolation. To succeed they'll either need to face reality & begin reopening, or manage to stay locked up until a vaccine is widely available, assuming half the state's population isn't homeless & hungry by that time. Madness.

There is a flu vaccine every year. It's basically a group of scientist's best guess in that year's flu strain. The average effectiveness is 70%. The corona virus vaccine, when available, is unlikely to be different.

I have employees who make more on unemployment and unwilling to come back to work. In a way and in my mind, Hawaii is almost like those employees. Their tourism based workers are getting federal unemployment till end of July so they are fine for now. But what's the plan when that money runs out? Are they banking on a Republican administration bailing out a democratic state when the mainland states had already reopened? When they inevitably are forced to face reality and reopen, they had already missed the vast majority of the tourist season, and numerous people (me included) had been turned off by how the state handled this. I do have my trip pushed to August but I am having serious second thoughts on going even if they reopen. Given how this leadership handled the whole situation, who's to say they won't flip flop and hunt you down to impose a retroactive quarantine?

Absolutely terrible leadership.

 

[montreid]

I think it's just an indication that some (many) states chose the economy over the risk of lives lost due to the coronavirus. The virus had spread beyond the point of control in the US. So what do you do at this point - shut down the economy indefinitely which affect the vast majority; or build surge hospital capacity / enforce mitigation measures like masks / social distance as best you can during the shut down, then open up the economy and let those at risk quarantine themselves, and the higher number who get sick will hopefully be handled by the newly expanded capacity?

Island nations like New Zealand and Taiwan are different. I can understand their isolation and quarantine as they are not dependent on tourism. Now, Hawaii's biggest economy is tourism. And during this precious time bought from the shutdown at huge economic cost, AFAIK they had done nothing to expand their capacity to handle the inevitable surge if they open the economy. It's almost as if they plan on shutting down indefinitely. Frankly it's mind boggling.

While not quite the 20% of Hawaii - New Zealand's tourism accounts for 6% of their total GDP = 17% of their total export earnings. So it's not small potatoes.

As pointed out, many service sector unemployment actually is paying better than working; and still doesn't run out for another 6 weeks. While those states reopened early are now seeing a resurgence, there's going to be increasing pressures to extend existing bailouts at the Fed level. If this happens, Hawaii populace may actually continue to make out decently well. SBOs are shouldering the brunt of this which PPP should have helped but was largely fumbled by the Fed -- some amends done, but still needs shoring up with another round.

All said, infrastructure to support their island appears to have be more robust in testing and tracing. The hospital capacity -- that's hard to change and frankly, 1 week stays and folk are gone -- really many infected are going back to their homes -- Vegas is going to reflect this a lot I think and see data in 1-2 weeks on that.

 

[stagmite]

There is a flu vaccine every year. It's basically a group of scientist's best guess in that year's flu strain. The average effectiveness is 70%. The corona virus vaccine, when available, is unlikely to be different.

I have employees who make more on unemployment and unwilling to come back to work. In a way and in my mind, Hawaii is almost like those employees. Their tourism based workers are getting federal unemployment till end of July so they are fine for now. But what's the plan when that money runs out? Are they banking on a Republican administration bailing out a democratic state when the mainland states had already reopened? When they inevitably are forced to face reality and reopen, they had already missed the vast majority of the tourist season, and numerous people (me included) had been turned off by how the state handled this. I do have my trip pushed to August but I am having serious second thoughts on going even if they reopen. Given how this leadership handled the whole situation, who's to say they won't flip flop and hunt you down to impose a retroactive quarantine?

Absolutely terrible leadership.

I've had a job req out there since mid May, but I can't get a decent candidate to apply. I've recalled all my staff but had to fire one person, so now I'm short one head. Prior to COVID19 when I had a job req open, within a week I had 2-3 strong candidates to hire from. Unfortunately I can't pay better then UI + $600 extra per week so there's not much I can do about it. This $600 extra per week is not helping at all with recovery. If the goal is to keep people at home, then the extra $600 per week makes sense, but if you are trying to recover your economy then that extra money needs to come to an end.

 

[JoshF]

I have a trip planned in early September and wonder if it will happen...

 

[NHanson521]

I have a trip planned in early September and wonder if it will happen...

If it is of any consolation, they did just release big discounts of 25-35% for stays starting August 1st! Crossing my fingers...

 

[Boardwalkin]

I am hopeful the new promotion is a sign Aulani will be open in August as we also have a room booked for early September. Still waiting to book our flights though as we don’t want to tie money up in the airlines as they have not been great about refunds. I already have credits from a May cancelled trip and don’t need more.

 

[Mommy2Logan]

When we saw the 35% discount they rolled out yesterday we have decided to book for fall. Now we’ve got to decide sept or October. We are so eager to go that we want to book sept but maybe that’s jumping the gun. Wondering if they aren’t open by sept if we can apply the discount for a later date?

 

[cgattis]

When we saw the 35% discount they rolled out yesterday we have decided to book for fall. Now we’ve got to decide sept or October. We are so eager to go that we want to book sept but maybe that’s jumping the gun. Wondering if they aren’t open by sept if we can apply the discount for a later date?

If you’ve been following any of the WDW reservations “process,” I’d say not to bet on it. I mean, they might offer it again if they need bookings, but I wouldn’t necessarily expect them to actually extend an offer if they don’t get to open. So hard to decide when you have to book airfare too, I know

 

[Dennis DVC]

were holding out till aug 21...this covid news is too unpredictable. my fear of getting caught up in a lock down is too much risk to make it this year

 

[JM23457]

When we saw the 35% discount they rolled out yesterday we have decided to book for fall. Now we’ve got to decide sept or October. We are so eager to go that we want to book sept but maybe that’s jumping the gun. Wondering if they aren’t open by sept if we can apply the discount for a later date?

I recommend choosing the latest dates possible. The state isn't even open to tourists yet.

Disney is hoping it will be open, hence the discount, but they don't know for sure. They offered discounts for June for WDW, too, and had tk refund all of those reservations. The same thing could easily happen at Aulani.

 

[corgi_monster]

The quarantine exemption program is expected to be announced soon, so keep checking Hawaii news websites if you have an upcoming vacation.

 

[hetzeltj]

The quarantine exemption program is expected to be announced soon, so keep checking Hawaii news websites if you have an upcoming vacation.

Care to elaborate on this. a quick google search didnt really come back with anything

 

[bavaria]

This is a sobering read, and outlines why action is needed now to mitigate the forecast losses. https://uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content...TheStateGovernmentRestoreFiscalBalance2-1.pdf

Expect also to pay higher accommodation tax, or a proposed $35/night COVID recovery fee, which is an interesting option. Germany actually cut the VAT from 19% to stimulate the economy, and on catering ie food/restaurant sales from 19 to 7%.

 

[Sepo]

Care to elaborate on this. a quick google search didnt really come back with anything

It is something the Lt Governor has been spearheading. Some optional testing protocol that travelers might take (such as a test at CVS 72 hrs before departure) to then be granted an exception from the otherwise still-in-force 14 d quarantine.

The main hang ups are: 1) 96 hours may be more reasonable since 72 hrs may not return in time if there is a mainland testing surge, 2) Not enough available resources to test passengers in Hawaii for those who fail to get the test before but still want the exemption; the state’s public health official Sarah Park has sounded the alarm on this, and 3) what to do for travelers who test positive, as it relates to their reservations (not really the state’s problem though).