A convention of bird- watchers has canceled a planned meeting on Hawaii island because of uncertainty surrounding protests over building the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.

The bird convention is just the latest tourism casualty since protests over the TMT project started in mid-July when opponents began to gather at the intersection of Daniel K. Inouye Highway and Mauna Kea Access Road. Gov. David Ige closed the only road to the summit July 15, and it’s been blocked by TMT opponents since then.

Last week the Hawai‘i Island Festival of Birds sent out a notice that it was canceling the event, which included a film festival, bird- watching trips and other activities in late October, due to “high probability that current road and forest closures on Mauna Kea will still be in place at the onset of the festival.”

The festival cancellation piggybacks on earlier reported tourism impacts, mainly from the eight tour companies that have permits to bring visitors to Mauna Kea, especially the three or so whose businesses exclusively rely on Mauna Kea, said Ross Birch, executive director of the Island of Hawai‘i Visitors Bureau.

“An average of $150,000 every month is being lost by each of the operators, ” Birch said. “A couple of operators, where Mauna Kea is their only business, have gone out of business or are very close to closing, and a few others are having great challenges.”

The protests are disrupting Hawaii island tourism at a time when the island was starting to recover from last year’s Kilauea eruption. Just how much of a disruption it is will take time to determine.

“I haven’t heard of Mauna Kea being a major tourism concern yet, but we are monitoring it and seeing if there’s an impact,” said HTA President and CEO Chris Tatum. “A fair amount of people in the industry are up on the mountain also participating. We understand the challenges. A lot of people support it and some don’t within our industry. We always have to be understanding.”

Monte “Pat” Wright, owner of the tour firm Mauna Kea Summit Adventures, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser earlier this month that nine of his 12 employees had to be laid off because they can’t get up the mountain.

Blocked access also has affected larger tour companies like Roberts Hawaii. “Our summit stargazing tour has been suspended for the time being, and we’re encouraging visitors to consider other ways to experience and learn about Hawaii island,” said Margo Harumi-Mau Bunnell, Roberts’ Hawaii island general manager.

Rob Pacheco, bird festival co-founder and Hawaii Forest &Trail founder and CEO, said he’s still trying to preserve parts of the festival experience, but seeing Hawaii’s native endemic forest birds, especially in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, is the key experience that most attendees desire.

“There are too many risks and unknowns at this point for us to guarantee fulfilling our overall festival obligations,” he said. “The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge has been closed to all nonessential personnel since summit access was closed. Hakalau is one of our best intact native habitats where we have most of our native endemic birds in the Hawaiian Islands — the rarest of the rare are in there.”

Pacheco said about 800 festivalgoers were expected, including some 100 from off island. Those who cancel will receive full hotel and festival refunds. The bird-watchers can still get discounted hotel rates at the Sheraton Kona Resort during what would have been the festival week, and a few tours will still be available.

Still cancellation of the event will result in lost revenue for hotels, event spaces, catering contracts and other support businesses.

Much of Hawaii island’s tourism marketing during last year’s Kilauea eruption and the closure of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park centered around messaging that it’s a big island with much more to see and do, including stargazing at Mauna Kea. That was especially true in Japan where stargazing is popular. A new visitor center for Mauna Kea was even part of tourism planning discussions at the state Legislature last year.

Lately, there have been signs that Hawaii island tourism is coming back, especially after the Hawaii Tourism Authority pumped $2.5 million in marketing funds into the market in January. State Rep. Richard H.K. Onishi (D, Hilo-Keaau- Kurtistown-Volcano) said unemployment had increased in the aftermath of the eruption but has been dropping below the previous year since the end of May.

“The report that jobs are coming back dovetails with reports that hotel occupancy is back up, which is positive not only for hotels, but tour companies, restaurants and all the other businesses that serve them,” said Onishi, who chairs the state Legislature’s House Committee for Tourism and International Affairs.

But the issues at Mauna Kea have muddled some of the way forward. Onishi said discussions of a new visitor center at Mauna Kea are on hold until peace prevails. Tourism marketers are now shying away from promoting Mauna Kea — which is problematic because of the standoff and because protesters view the mountain as sacred and object to it being used for commercial enterprise.

Still, there’s long been undeniable tourist demand for Mauna Kea both because of its natural beauty and the 13 observatories that it already hosts.

Birch said Mauna Kea was one of the Hawaii island attractions, like Waipio Valley, that grew more popular — sometimes as much as tenfold — during the closure of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

“It helped us keep the wheels turning,” Birch said. “The current closure is significant to individual operators, and it’s one less thing out of what Hawaii island has to offer — but it may not be significant in the overall tourism recovery process. We just don’t know yet.”

Eric Takahata, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Japan, said so far the protest is new enough that it hasn’t depressed the Japan tourism to Hawaii, as evidenced by Japan Airlines’ 90% load factors in July and August. But a protracted standoff “won’t have a positive effect,” Takahata said.

“People try to be respectful, and they want to understand what’s happening. Whenever you have the word ‘standoff’ with all the other things going on in the world in all those other places like Hong Kong, it’s a collateral thing it will turn some people off,” he said. “If it goes all the way into next year, you wonder what will happen to events like the Merrie Monarch.”

Takahata said the activity providers that Hawaii Tourism Japan works with are looking to fill the stargazing void by promoting alternate sites much as they did during the Kilauea eruption last year.

“They are struggling to find other stargazing spots because the guidelines aren’t clear. They could use some additional guidance from the county and state,” Takahata said. “If this isn’t addressed, it will effect these companies pretty quickly. Some are in dire straits.”