Hawaii tourism took another big step toward returning to normalcy on Nov. 6, when the state officially rolled out the welcome mat to visitors from Japan, the first international market to be allowed entry to the Islands since the pandemic began.
Travelers from Japan, the Islands' No. 1 inbound international market, can now follow the same pretravel testing system
that was introduced on Oct. 15 for U.S. travelers to earn a quarantine exemption.
The move, however, comes at a time when many in the Islands are questioning the wisdom of opening to tourism at all.
"There is a strong cross-cultural relationship between the people of
Japan and Hawaii, which over time has forged a foundation of mutual
respect," said new Hawaii Tourism
Authority president and CEO John De Fries at an Oct. 20 press
conference announcing the Japan travel program. "Historically, the Japan traveler to Hawaii has been mindful and
sensitive to our local ways and cultural traditions. At a time when we
in Hawaii seek to resuscitate our economy, the resumption of
transpacific travel from Japan is welcomed news."
Japanese nationals traveling abroad are still subject to a 14-day quarantine upon their return to the country.
The Japan news comes roughly three weeks after Hawaii launched a pretravel testing program created to restart a stagnant tourism industry. Visitors from the U.S. and now Japan as well as returning residents can skip what had been a mandatory 14-day quarantine if they tested negative for coronavirus by a state-approved provider within 72 hours of arrival in the Islands.
In the first two weeks of the program, roughly 104,000 people arrived in the Aloha State, and approximately 90,000 of them received quarantine exemptions, according to Lt. Gov. Josh Green. Additionally, a statewide surveillance program that randomly tests recent arrivals to gauge how many coronavirus cases may be falling through the cracks recorded just six positive test results from more than 9,500 samples.
Meanwhile, Hawaii's seven-day rolling average for the percentage of tests that come back positive is holding below 2%, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, well below the state's peak of 6.4% during a summer surge in August that put the tourism reopening in doubt.
Numerous hotels reopened on Oct. 15 or in the past two weeks, and several more across the Islands have announced they will start welcoming guests back in November. Oahu, which has recorded 87% of the total coronavirus cases in the state, has moved into a new reopening phase that will allow gyms and helicopter tours to restart business with capacity limitations and permit people from different households to meet for outdoor activities and meals at restaurants in groups no larger than five. Bars and nightclubs on Oahu remain closed under the current emergency order.
Still, there have been stumbles and ongoing concerns. The coronavirus test positivity rate for the U.S. has surged in recent weeks, with a seven-day average of 6.7% as of Nov. 4, well above Hawaii's rate. Each island is conducting the surveillance program in its own way, with the Big Island of Hawaii testing more than 9,000 people after arrival, while no other island has tested more than 200 people in their surveillance program.
In the first few days of the pretravel testing program, arrivals outpaced state expectations, according to Lt. Gov. Green. That higher-than-predicted volume led to long lines for travelers waiting to get their test results verified upon landing, especially on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
"Because travel exceeded our expectations by about 50% to 75% in the first seven days, there were longer lines," Green said. "We've since been able to adjust several things."
More staff have been added to the testing team, and the arrival gates for transpacific flights have been reconfigured to reduce overcrowding, Green said.
While linked to community spread rather than the arrival of tourists, Lanai has seen an outbreak spread quickly across the island just as tourism was returning, leading to a new shutdown order. Lanai, with a population of just 3,000, has limited medical facilities, and patients needing intensive care are generally flown to Maui.
Outside the population center of Oahu, medical resources can be very limited in the Islands. Kauai has managed the outbreak comparatively well, with only a handful of active cases and just 67 total since the start of the pandemic. But the Garden Isle has just nine intensive care unit beds (eight of which were in use for reasons other than Covid-19 as of Nov. 4), and its facilities could be quickly overwhelmed if an outbreak occurred.
Meanwhile, the return of visitors to the Islands has been met with mixed feelings in many communities. On Kauai, multiple restaurants made headlines after they posted policies saying they would only offer dine-in services to people who have quarantined for two weeks, and those who passed the state's pretravel testing criteria can only order takeout. There have been numerous complaints about tourists not following the state and local social distancing and masking protocols.
In the first week of the pretravel testing program, the Honolulu Police Department issued 4,500 warnings and 470 citations for not wearing masks or failing to social distance.
Angela Keen, co-founder of Hawaii Quarantine Kapu Breakers, a community group that has worked to help enforce measures designed to halt the spread of the coronavirus, including reporting suspected quarantine violators, says the state was disorganized and not ready to reopen in October. She is predicting another shutdown will be necessary before the end of the year and is advocating for a second round of testing four days after arrival. She is also calling for a more comprehensive media campaign to spread the message about Hawaii's testing program, statewide mask mandate and social distancing protocols.
"If a place like Disneyland is reopening, they will have all these plans detailing the messaging and everything down to how the doors will open and when," said Keen, whose group numbers about 6,000 members Islandswide. "That never happened here. It was a soft opening with no concrete rules in place, and people started coming either not knowing or not understanding what they were supposed to do. It takes more planning than that for this to be successful."
Keen said members of the organization that went out in recent weeks to observe popular tourist areas such as Waikiki and Lahaina saw flocks of people flaunting local masking and social distancing regulations.
"The behavior and the attitudes of the people really blew me away," Keen said. "Those who love Hawaii aren't coming right now. People who come here now don't care about protecting the local population, they care more about their civil rights than protecting the people of Hawaii. We had members in Maui hanging out handing out masks, and people were yelling and swearing at them. It's a smack in the face."
Coinciding with the launch of the pretravel testing program the HTA released a video campaign for hotels and airlines encouraging visitors to wear masks and observe social distancing, and the agency is working on similar initiatives with other partners in the coming weeks.
"The governor's proclamation making mask wearing mandatory is not a guideline; it is the law of the land," De Fries said. "I was shocked this weekend to witness the complacency with which people are choosing not to wear a mask. This is the law. ... The leaders in our industry need to reinforce this, whether it's on the airline, ground transportation, hotels, activities or restaurants. We need to get a handle on this immediately."