Unexpected challenges to Hawaii tourism

After some six years of record tourism growth, Hawaii’s top industry is having a tough year. Disasters, manmade and natural, have tested the sector: January’s false missile-alert scare; April’s rains and floods that hit Kauai’s north shore and Oahu’s east side especially hard; Kilauea’s dramatic, lingering eruption; a couple of hurricane close calls.

And now, a hotel workers’ strike since Oct. 8 affecting Marriott-linked hotels in Waikiki and Maui — just as Waikiki’s biggest convention of the year, the American Dental Association’s 2018 meeting, runs today through the weekend. For the sake of all concerned, focus on the bargaining table.