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Nearly 300 out-of-state visitors came to Hawaii by air Saturday

Nearly 1,000 passengers came to Hawaii on Saturday, including 307 returning residents and 285 visitors.

Of the 991 arrivals, 119 were intended residents who plan to move to Hawaii, such as military members and their families, and former residents.

The state’s mandatory 14-day self-quarantine, which was put in place for out-of-state passengers on March 26 and extended to interisland passengers on April 1, has dramatically dropped tourism to Hawaii. Before the quarantine about 30,000 passengers arrived in Hawaii daily. From March 26 to Friday, only 8,176 came.

But lawmakers are concerned that counts are going up and will likely go up more as more of Hawaii reopens, especially the beaches, which reopened Saturday on Oahu.

On the 15 flights that came Saturday, there also were 122 airline crew members, 80 transit passengers who are catching other flights, and 104 intended new residents for Oahu, four for Lihue, and 11 for Kona. Some 258 visitors traveled to Oahu, 19 to Kona and eight to Lihue. No flights arrived on Maui.

On Friday, another 286 visitors arrived in Hawaii, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. That’s on par with last Monday, which until now was the peak day for visitor traffic since March 26 when 268 visitors marked the start of the incoming passenger quarantine.

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