Hawaii’s status as a major travel destination has prompted local public health and tourism officials to ramp up efforts to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus, which they say so far poses a minimal threat to Hawaii’s residents and visitors.

Hawaii is not one of the destinations around the world where the coronavirus has been confirmed. However, the virus is rapidly spreading and the World Health Organization has ruled that it a “public health emergency of international concern.”

As of today, China, where the outbreak started, has reported 14,380 confirmed cases. WHO reported there have been 305 deaths, and the Philippines today announced the first virus-related death outside China.

However, scores of confirmed cases have been reported across 23 countries including the U.S., which has eight cases and is quickly ratcheting up its own controls.

Much has happened to cause Hawaii’s visitor industry concern since Tuesday’s announcement that Daniel K. Inouye International Airport had begun screening passengers from China for the coronavirus as part of increased efforts at 20 U.S. ports of entry.

President Donald Trump’s newly formed virus task force announced Friday that flights to the U.S. from China will be restricted to seven airports, including Honolulu. The other airports are in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and New York. Trump also signed an order temporarily barring foreign nationals, save for immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who have traveled in China within the last 14 days.

On Friday, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines announced plans to suspend routes to and from China to the U.S., while United said it would suspend some flights.

Also, the U.S. Department of State raised its travel advisory status for China to “do not travel”— that’s on par with the serious level 4 travel warnings that it gives U.S. citizens about North Korea and Iran.

“There’s been a lot of anxiety from the travel industry,” said Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, a travel wholesaler to Hawaii. “But it’s a very resilient industry and it will survive.”

The outbreak as yet has posed little risk to Hawaii’s tourism industry, which doesn’t have a large footprint of Chinese travelers anyway. Last year, visitor arrivals from China to Hawaii fell 24 % to 93,703 — less than 1% of the 10.4 million visitors that came to Hawaii. There isn’t any direct air service between China and Honolulu save for China Eastern, which offers direct flights between Honolulu and Shanghai.

Hawaii tourism and government officials say they are hoping to head off any negative tourism effects by taking a proactive approach. But there’s still much to work out. The visitor industry is especially concerned with the state Department of Health’s plan for quarantining tourists who are suspected of having the coronavirus.

State Epidemiologist Sarah Park said in an email Friday, “If a ‘patient under investigation’ is identified, we will quarantine that person. If they do not require hospitalization, we will quarantine them at home (for resident) or a hotel or other lodging (if visitor).”

Jerry Dolak, president of the Hawaii Hotel Visitor Industry Security Association, said hotels across the state have established protocols for dealing with sick guests and the reporting of contagious diseases to the Department of Health. However, Dolak said Hawaii hotels aren’t set up to quarantine guests.

“I’ve heard of hotels in Hawaii isolating guests before. In those cases, they might instruct staff to leave food outside and request that guests stay away from other people, but we don’t have the right to quarantine guests,” Dolak said. “They’ll probably have to find a different place for that, rather than an actual hotel. It could be too expensive for some guests and obviously it could create a situation where an entire hotel wants to check out.”

If coronavirus-related quarantines occurred in Hawaii hotels, Richards said it would surely dampen tourism, which up to this point has been doing well despite the coronavirus.

“We were up 11% yesterday and were up double- digits through the month,” he said. “The fact that they are doing airport screenings in Honolulu is probably comforting to some travelers. Also, in times of global trouble, travelers often prefer to stay closer to home — we’re seeing them chose Hawaii over Asia or Europe.”

Still, Richards said, Pleasant Holidays would probably have “to think very hard about marketing and selling hotels that are under quarantine.”

“We’d have to be transparent with our customers, and I’m sure that they simply wouldn’t book them. I mean, would you go to a restaurant, even, that was under a quarantine?” he said.

Danny Ojiri, vice president market development for Outrigger Hospitality Group, said he doesn’t think hotel quarantines would be good for Hawaii, either. But he added if Hawaii continues to be perceived as safe it could actually get a boost from China’s struggles.

“China is one of our top competitors for group business. All of the Asia groups going to China now are cancelling and the agencies will try to divert the business rather than lose it,” Ojiri said.“There could be potential for Hawaii to get some of these rebookings.”

Mike McCartney, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, said at this juncture public health and safety are the state’s main focus.

“The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and the Hawaii Tourism Authority are closely monitoring the domestic and global short and long-term economic impacts of the coronavirus. At this time we know of no significant economic impact,” McCartney said.

Nigel Glennie, vice president corporate communications for Hilton, which has four hotels in Wuhan and 225 hotels in Greater China, said it’s really too early to know how the coronavirus might affect hotels or the industry in general.

“We have not yet seen an increase in related questions from team members or guests at our properties,” Glennie said. “With regard to our Hawaii properties, we continue to closely monitor the situation and will plan to implement any actions recommended by public health.”

There are 19 hotels and timeshares in Hawaii that fall under the Hilton brand, including the state’s largest single-property, the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

“Hilton is very focused on the well-being of guests and team members across all of our properties and we’re closely monitoring updates from local and international health authorities. We’re encouraging our guests to do the same,” Glennie said.

Keith Vieira, principal of KV &Associates, Hospitality Consulting, also is urging Hawaii’s tourism and government officials to stay proactive.

Vieria knows from Hawaii’s past that health epidemics like SARS, avian flu and swine flu and the negative publicity surrounding them tend to dampen people’s desire to travel. That’s especially concerning for a destination like Hawaii, where the majority of travelers come for leisure rather than business, he said.

“We aren’t like New York or San Francisco where there are plenty of business travelers. Nobody has to come here,” Vieira said. “I’m cautiously optimistic, but things could take us South. The coronavirus could really impact Hawaii if the Japanese get afraid to travel through airports. We’ve seen it in the past and this time there’s continuous coverage and social media and when that happens things tend to sound worse than they are.”