Hawaii Tourism Not Starting Up Until Late Summer

several of the local hawaii news outlets bundled the governors announcement of his plans with the actual updates from the mayor of oahu, while national outlets (like cnn) just flat out stated that hawaii extended the quarantine.
 
The Hawaii governor announced that the 14 day visitor quarantines will continue through June.

Where did you find the official announcement? I read that Governor Ige was thinking of extending it until June 30 but as of today, I didn't see an official announcement. The stay-at-home order has been extended until June 30 for Oahu.
 
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Where did you find the official announcement? I read that Governor Ige was thinking of extending it until June 30 but as of today, I didn't see an office announcement. The stay-at-home order has been extended until June 30 for Oahu.

You can google it. :thumbsup2
 


You can google it. :thumbsup2

Well that was vague lol I was looking for an official announcement from the governor and couldn't find on any local news, just San Francisco news website.

If anyone else finds the official announcement, would you mind sharing the link? Thank you :)
 
Well that was vague lol I was looking for an official announcement from the governor and couldn't find on any local news, just San Francisco news website.

If anyone else finds the official announcement, would you mind sharing the link? Thank you :)
there isn't one yet...

here's the official state of hawaii "status" website (or go through hawaii.gov to get to the same site but from the official state of hawaii web page)

https://hawaiicovid19.com/
the last "decision/guidance" entry is from 5/5...but the latest "status" is from 5/15. the 5/15 update at least indicates the site has been updated very recently (multiple times on 5/15 too), and the lack of a post to officially extend the self quarantine to end of june is very noticeable.

of course it could also mean that someone just forgot to post that 1 specific thing...if the budget people can somehow make a $500 million mistake and not catch it for about a month...forgetting to post 1 piece of information on a website is rather small in comparison.
 


Currently scheduled for a mid-October trip. I honestly haven't given it too much thought, but with all the uncertainty of what's transpiring and lack of announcements concerning tourism, I'm beginning to get a little anxious. I know a lot can happen in 5 months, but there's still the possibility of the virus making a comeback in the fall. I hate to think negatively about our upcoming trip, when it's supposed to be a celebration. We have not bought airfare yet, so if there's an upside I guess that's it.
 
We are booked with our friends for our 65th birthdays celebration, staying in separate suites at their timeshare on Lewers St in Waikiki for 2 weeks in November this year. We had just finished booking our flights when this pandemic and subsequent shutdowns occurred. We've decided to cancel the flights and get a full credit with no penalty while we can "just in case we don't go" and have up to a lot closer to check-in day to decide whether we will cancel the rooms as well.

I was looking forward to one of the days where we rented a car to try to visit Aulani just to check out the lobby like we do the hotels on Kalakaua Ave.

Give me Fort Wilderness at Walt Disney World anytime to make this hiccup seem less concerning anytime.
 
Almost definitely. Or some sort of proof that you already have the antibodies.

If the government doesn't require visitors to show some sort of proof that they are not actively carrying the disease, Hawaii residents will be up in arms. I would expect a huge grassroots movement to include massive picket lines outside the airport and hotels, harassment, etc. The negativity towards tourists is already out of hand and an open border with no testing would amplify it immensely.
How would tourism ever revive with those kind of traveler-unfriendly rules? How many tourists, especially whole families traveling together, are going to pay the high, nonrefundable airfare costs to get to Hawaii, only to possibly be turned away upon entry? I think few people would take the risk of making those reservations. And there goes Hawaii's economy.
 
Any sort of medical requirement for tourists is impractical. There is no proof yet that having Covid antibodies provides any type of immunity. It just tells that you have been exposed to the disease. Covid antigen tests are expanding but all the tests are invasive, require a credentialed professional to collect the specimens and all the rapid, point of care tests have issues that can allow up to a 15% false negative rate. That does not even begin to address the logistic nightmare of how to setup a quarantine area for folks to get tested and then be held until they get their results.
 
How would tourism ever revive with those kind of traveler-unfriendly rules? How many tourists, especially whole families traveling together, are going to pay the high, nonrefundable airfare costs to get to Hawaii, only to possibly be turned away upon entry? I think few people would take the risk of making those reservations. And there goes Hawaii's economy.

Many won't come . . . at least for a while. But many will come. Asian tourists, who make up a significant portion of visitors, will have no problem undergoing health checks - temperature/health checks have been in place in Japan for years now. I'm not implying that temperature checks, antibody tests, etc. are sufficient safeguards against covid-19. I'm just saying that the idea of a mandatory health check is probably acceptable to many Asian tourists since it's normal in those countries.

I think most Hawaii residents will welcome a permanent downturn in tourism. Prior to the pandemic, the word "overtourism" made headlines every week. In the past couple of years, efforts have been made to reduce tourism - making short-term rental illegal, requiring permits to access part of Kauai's north shore, and raising transient accommodation taxes.

As a Hawaii resident, I have shelved all my vacations plans for the rest of 2020 and will probably reschedule a January 2021 WDW trip because I'm worried about catching a cold and not being allowed to come home. And even if I am healthy and can fly home, will the state implement another 14-day quarantine in the middle of my trip due to a 2nd wave of coronavirus? Visitors are upset because they're not being allowed free access to the islands. But it goes both ways and lots of residents feel they can't leave for the foreseeable future.
 
I think most Hawaii residents will welcome a permanent downturn in tourism. Prior to the pandemic, the word "overtourism" made headlines every week. In the past couple of years, efforts have been made to reduce tourism - making short-term rental illegal, requiring permits to access part of Kauai's north shore, and raising transient accommodation taxes.

Certainly some residents, but I wouldn't say most. So many Hawaii residents are dependent on tourism. And even those who wanted to limit tourism didn't have in mind to eliminate tourism completely. As for raising transient accommodation taxes, that was just a logical response to the ever-increasing demand--keep raising prices to what the market will bear. Hawaii has had a good couple of decades, between those taxes and the pork from Senator Inouye. God rest his soul, Dan is gone and with him his seniority and connections to keep the federal money flowing into the islands. If any Hawaiians think they can maintain their current quality of life without tourists, they are either delusional or truly want to go back to the native days (and I suspect they have no idea what those days were really like).
 
it is now official that the visitor quarantine is extended through end of june, however given the phased re-open plans and 2 week "observation period" between phases...if any phase is extended it essentially pushes out the date another 2 weeks...lots of ambiguity still...but a little more of a plan seems to be in place.

and this is of course assuming that the visitor quarantine is lifted at phase 4...the disruption levels are for residents (a 14 day quarantine should be a huge disruption for any tourist)...so "new normal" and "no disruption" does not necessarily imply quarantine gone.

the more worrying bits of news recently are how many people who break quarantine are only caught due to flagrantly flaunting doing so on social media...and even then they seem to almost get away with it in some cases (1 person was arrested 1 hour prior to flying back home). which brings into question...why have a quarantine if so little is done to enforce it?

the lack of enforcement is going to prove problematic as those who are capable of acting responsibly are generally choosing to delay trips...while those who aren't may be emboldened by how much others are getting away with prior to being caught.
 
it is now official that the visitor quarantine is extended through end of june, however given the phased re-open plans and 2 week "observation period" between phases...if any phase is extended it essentially pushes out the date another 2 weeks...lots of ambiguity still...but a little more of a plan seems to be in place.

and this is of course assuming that the visitor quarantine is lifted at phase 4...the disruption levels are for residents (a 14 day quarantine should be a huge disruption for any tourist)...so "new normal" and "no disruption" does not necessarily imply quarantine gone.

the more worrying bits of news recently are how many people who break quarantine are only caught due to flagrantly flaunting doing so on social media...and even then they seem to almost get away with it in some cases (1 person was arrested 1 hour prior to flying back home). which brings into question...why have a quarantine if so little is done to enforce it?

the lack of enforcement is going to prove problematic as those who are capable of acting responsibly are generally choosing to delay trips...while those who aren't may be emboldened by how much others are getting away with prior to being caught.
So... July 12th probably not happening? My friend is refusing to rebook her DVC... I'm worried she will lose the option of rebooking her points.
 
I have not read about a phase 3 or phase 4? Is that something being reported locally?

NM. Just found it. It just does not spell out what phase Tourism in going to be included in.
 
phase 3 and 4 were basically just graphics with words on a chart...tho phase 3 is supposed to be when nightclubs/bars can re-open as "high risk".

prior to this tourism was also "high risk"...but it was either left out intentionally or is being treated as "very high risk" or "extremely high risk" (i.e. phase 4 or....phase 5?)

july 12th is...possible...but relies on so many things not going wrong that until maybe mid june based on the announced plans...it's not really possible to say one way or the other. aulani can re-open at any time they wish (hotels having been classified as an "essential business" from the start)...whether or not they should re-open prior to the visitor quarantine being dropped is a completely different story.

if they do re-open then those who can stay longer than 14 days have the option to go...as well as those who would not mind simply staying in an ocean view room and sitting on their balcony the whole time. the flip side being that for those that do not find either possible or appealing...refunds, rebooking, etc. become less possible and/or appealing.
 

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