SECOND OF TWO PARTS

VOLCANO, Hawaii >> The Volcano Art Center, a nonprofit gallery and learning center inside the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, sold about $70,000 a month worth of artwork and other merchandise last year and was expecting 2018 to be even better.

Then came the Kilauea eruption.

The Art Center was closed for most of May and later relocated to a smaller space in Volcano Village. Sales dropped to less than $10,000 a month.

“We lost more than $150,000 in revenue in just a two-month period,” said Mike Nelson, the center’s executive director. “That’s very painful for a nonprofit. We had to temporarily lay off five of our eight employees and the remaining staff have had hours cut significantly.”

Similar stories are common among businesses near the Volcanoes National Park, which closed most of its operations soon after the eruption began on May 3. The national park — the state’s top visitor attraction — had just ended a record 2017 in which it attracted more than 2 million visitors.

The Kilauea eruption slowed on Sunday and was still quiet Wednesday, but scientists have warned that it could start up again at any time.

Meanwhile, the national park has remained closed. More than 18,000 temblors in the past 30 days have left parts of Highway 11, which leads to the park, and many park roads with significant damage. The Halemaumau crater at the center of the park has quadrupled in size as magma drains to the lower East Rift Zone and erupts out of fissure 8.

Visitors’ fears

It was the allure of the park that transformed Volcano Village, population 2,575, into a must-stop visitor destination. But tourism began to soften once visitors realized that they could no longer view lava by land. Some cautious travelers avoided the destination out of concern for the region’s earthquakes or air quality.

While the park is almost an hour’s drive from fissure 8, some visitors mistakenly feared that conditions there were similar to other parts of the Puna district where the lava has destroyed more than 700 homes.

All that translates into economic hardship for the people depending on tourists for all or part of their income.

The Volcano Art Center displays the works of 250 or so artists, mostly from Hawaii. Last year, the center paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to its artists, but that has mostly dried up.

“The downturn has hurt everyone in the community,” said Nelson, the center’s director. “There’s less money for everything from food and beverage to lodging and attractions.”

Nelson said the Volcano Art Center has joined forces with about 19 other community members and businesses to support a grassroots campaign, Experience Volcano Hawaii (experience­volcano.com). The effort, which launched July 30, aims to convince visitors that the value of Volcano extends beyond the park.

Experience Volcano Hawaii didn’t have to convince Anne Sargent, a visitor from Lawrence, Kan., that the region was worth visiting. Sargent knew about the volcanic activity in Puna and the earthquakes before she booked her second trip to Hawaii island.

“It’s peaceful here. I enjoy all the natural beauty. I’ll also visit Waipio Valley, a lava tube and take some more hikes,” said Sargent as she hiked through Niaulani Rainforest. “There are a lot of other things to do here other than look at lava.”

An onslaught of negative coverage on the mainland didn’t give Leah Ensor, a cruise visitor from Lake Norman, N.C., pause either.

“The coverage was a little scary at first,” Ensor said. “But there wasn’t any hesitation because we knew the cruise ships wouldn’t put us in any danger. I’d still recommend that people come. This is a wonderful and very peaceful destination.”

Still, the community has to persuade significantly more tourists to visit or economic challenges will continue. Vacancy signs line the roads of Volcano Village.

‘This is the worst ever’

Haunani Kaleiwahea, a housekeeper whose hours at the Volcano Rainforest Retreat were cut to on-call, said, “This hurts big time. The tourists keep everyone going up here so it’s been a struggle. There have been other downturns, but I think this is the worst ever.”

Ira Ono, who owns Volcano Garden Arts, cut staff hours because sales are down at his business, which also includes gardens, a vacation rental cottage and Cafe Ono.

“People were fearful. Before the eruption and the earthquakes, my vacation rental was at 90 percent occupancy, now we’re at 30 percent,” Ono said as he sat in his near-empty garden. “We want people to come so we can share this special place with them. There are people in this community that could live anywhere else on earth, but they choose to live on this mountaintop.”

Lani Delapenia, Volcano Winery manager, said the business has avoided layoffs, but tastings have dropped from more than 80 per day to sometimes as few as 20. Customers have been confused by the signage that the National Park Service installed near its Highway 11 entrance that says, “Don’t stop next 12 miles.”

“People ask about the sign. They want to know if we are open and if they can still get to us,” Delapenia said. “Once they realize that we’re open, it’s safe to visit and there are a lot of things worth doing on our side of the island, they’ll be back. I feel certain that we will recover.”

Janet Coney, Kilauea Lodge general manager, said bookings initially dropped about 50 percent following the park closure and meal sales took a hit, too. None of the property’s 58 employees have been laid off, but some have had to find second jobs or file for partial unemployment to make up for lost hours, Coney said.

Coney said the good news is that residents from other parts of Hawaii island and the state have started to offset some of the losses with “staycations.” Tourists from California, where visitors are familiar with earthquakes, are picking up, too, she said.

Looking toward the future

Despite the destination’s present tourism slowdown, Highway West Vacations of Irvine, Calif., completed its purchase of the lodge in mid-June, Coney said.

“Highway West knows it could take some time to turn the situation around, but they are convinced that it will happen. In the meantime, they’ll take the opportunity to reinvest in the property,” Coney said. “This is a huge vote of confidence for our property and the destination.”

There also might be some relief for the Volcano Art Center and the other nonprofits and businesses whose operations inside the park were disrupted by its abrupt closure. Cindy Orlando, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park superintendent, met with the Volcano Art Center on Tuesday and has reached out to the other nonprofits and businesses that formerly operated inside the park.

The Art Center is working with the park service to get its $2,600 monthly lease payment deferred until the park reopens.

Orlando said the park’s Kilauea section is still “a ways from getting anything reopened.”

Seismicity has created dangerous sink holes and cracks in park roads, overlooks and trails, she said. Damage has emptied the Jaggar Museum and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Orlando added. Broken waterlines have left most of the park without running water for fire suppression, she said.

“Once we do the assessments, we can determine a recovery strategy,” Orlando said. “We’ve lost millions of dollars, too. We aren’t collecting any entrance fees.”

She said she is also in discussions with Volcano House, a hotel that has a concession to operate inside the park.

“There will likely be many extraordinary costs associated with the reopening of (Volcano House),” Orlando said. “We expect further conversations and discussion about the franchise fees and modifications to their existing contract.”

Volcano Village