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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / APRIL 6
The number of trans-Pacific visitors to Hawaii dropped below 100 a day for the Easter weekend.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority reported today that on Sunday 543 trans-Pacific passengers arrived in Hawaii, including 91 visitors and 132 residents. The count also included 125 airline crew members, 171 transit passengers, and 22 intended new residents for Oahu and two for Kona.
Sunday’s visitor count was slightly higher than Saturday’s count, when 89 visitors arrived. In comparison, 104 visitors came on Friday, 104 on Thursday, 107 on Wednesday, Tuesday, 133 on Monday, 126 on Sunday, 106 on Saturday, 94 on April 3 and 89 on April 2.
Daily trans-Pacific visitor counts have averaged about 110 passengers since March 26, when Gov. David Ige instituted a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine for all arriving trans-Pacific passengers to cut travel demand and protect Hawaii’s resources. He expanded the quarantine to interisland flights on April 1.
Passengers to Hawaii have dropped dramatically from historic levels, which at this time last year were averaging 30,000 a day. Some 1,974 trans-Pacific visitors have come to Hawaii since the quarantine.
The state is trying to close the loop on arriving visitors, which have been discouraged from coming to Hawaii. The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii is sending visitors who haven’t made arrangements to complete the quarantine home and if necessary is subsidizing all or some of their return travel costs via a grant from HTA.
Hawaii island and Kauai mayors have issued orders prohibiting stays in transient vacation rentals. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has declared that transient vacation rentals are not essential businesses.
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