Hawaii Governor Says Vaccinated Travelers Can Return Nov. 1

On Tuesday, Hawaii governor David Ige invited fully vaccinated domestic travelers to resume their vacation plans in the Islands, starting Nov. 1.

“We are all encouraged by what we’ve seen over the last several weeks with the continuing trend of lower and lower case counts,” Ige said during a Tuesday press conference at the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on Hawaii Island. “Our hospitals are doing better, [and] because of this, it is now safe for fully vaccinated residents and visitors to resume nonessential travel to and within the state of Hawaii. Beginning Nov. 1, we want to invite and encourage fully vaccinated visitors and residents to travel for business or leisure — transpacific and interisland.”

Beginning Nov. 1, we want to invite and encourage fully vaccinated visitors and residents to travel for business or leisure — transpacific and interisland.

On Aug. 23, during a then-alarming surge of COVID-19 cases that state officials feared would “cripple” Hawaii’s healthcare system, Ige urged vacationers to postpone trips to the Islands through the end of October, saying: “Now is not a good time to travel to Hawaii.”   

That statement was criticized by many in the Aloha State’s visitor business, including Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association, who said an extremely low number of cases had been tied to tourists, and Ige’s comments might discourage responsible travelers from visiting but wouldn’t “stop the extractive, opportunistic tourists that we are looking to avoid."

Hannemann praised Ige’s comments on Tuesday, however, saying in a statement that he looked forward to working with the Ige administration “to shape a clear message to prospective travelers that Hawaii is open for business, and travel can once again be booked with confidence.”

Not only did we see demand plummet, but we saw cancellations increase two- to three-fold from what we normally see.

Sean Dee, Outrigger Hospitality Group’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, was also happy with the governor’s comments on Tuesday, describing the announcement as “really good news” that would help combat the uncertainty now plaguing travel to Hawaii. 

“It’s been a challenging two months,” Dee said. “Our occupancies have been down significantly. The visitor arrivals have been down significantly. … Not only did we see demand plummet, but we saw cancellations increase two- to three-fold from what we normally see. So today was the first bit of good news we’ve had in a couple of months, and we really welcome it.”

Governor’s Message Discouraging Vacations Was Especially Hard on Oahu

Outrigger’s Dee noted that many of the hotelier’s properties are located on the island of Oahu, which is home to Waikiki and traditionally relies heavily on a healthy balance of both domestic and international visitors. But the number of international arrivals in the Islands has plunged nearly 99% since the start of the pandemic, according to Dee.  

“While the domestic recovery from the mainland was pretty solid earlier this year, it couldn’t compensate for that complete fall off of international visitors,” he explained, saying the lack of international business and Governor Ige’s late August comments — asking domestic travelers to stay away — submarined Oahu’s hotel occupancies. 

“Depending on the property, it was running between 30% and 55%,” Dee said.   

Annette Sordoni, an Encino, Calif-based Protravel International advisor who has been selling Hawaii for 25 years, said Gov. Ige’s late August comments discouraging vacations didn’t have much of an impact on her traditionally slow September and October business to the Aloha State. Sordoni had just one Hawaii client cancel and another family group that didn’t pay much attention to the governor’s request. 

“I had clients at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in September, and his saying, ‘Don’t come’ did not even give them pause,” Sordoni recalled. 

Still, the longtime Hawaii expert is happy Ige is now encouraging visitors to return. 

“It will be helpful that he said vacationers can come back,” Sordoni said. “Knowing they’re welcome to return to the islands is definitely a positive.”

Quarantine Rules in Hawaii and the Holiday Season Outlook

Transpacific domestic travelers to the Aloha State looking to bypass an otherwise mandated 10‐day quarantine are currently required to upload proof of COVID‐19 vaccination or a negative PCR test — taken no more than 72 hours before departure — to Hawaii’s Safe Travels website and then undergo document verification at the airport on arrival in the Islands.

Outrigger’s Dee also noted, meanwhile, that despite Ige’s late August comments discouraging vacations, this year’s bookings for the traditionally peak Christmas and New Year’s holiday season were already pretty strong for Maui, Kauai and the island of Hawaii. But the same hasn’t been true for Oahu.

The Neighbor Islands were definitely gearing up to have a pretty successful Festive Season — likely 90% to 95% of what they would normally see in a year like 2019.

“The Neighbor Islands were definitely gearing up to have a pretty successful Festive Season — likely 90% to 95% of what they would normally see in a year like 2019,” Dee said. “Oahu is a little bit more constrained with the lack of international visitors, so I think a strong holiday season for us would result more in a RevPAR performance of somewhere around 75% to 80% of where we would have been in 2019.”

The Hawaii governor’s decision two months ago to ask travelers to stay away doesn’t appear to have impacted Sordoni’s Hawaii holiday bookings much this year. 

“It has not deterred anyone from booking Christmas,” she said with a chuckle. “For me, Christmas bookings are full steam ahead.” 

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