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More than 500 visitors land in Hawaii on Monday after Hurricane Douglas’s departure

A total of 525 visitors flew into the Aloha state on Monday, the day after Hurricane Douglas moved away from the isles in one of the closest calls in decades.

According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, 2,671 passengers arrived on 36 flights on Monday. Among them were 525 visitors, along with 1,053 returning residents, and 148 planning to relocate to Hawaii.

Another 176 were military, and 225 exempt from the state’s mandatory, 14-day quarantine for out-of-state-visitors. A total of 380 were crew and 164 in transit.

On Sunday, when Hurricane Douglas was barreling toward Hawaii as a Category 1 storm, numerous flights were canceled and there were only 158 visitors who arrived on 12 flights.

The numbers on Monday are a dip from earlier this month when the number of visitors spiked to as high as 937 prior to the Fourth of July weekend.

They are also a severe drop from the approximately 35,000 passengers that arrived in Hawaii daily, including residents and visitors, during the same time last year, according to HTA.

Numbers have plummeted since Gov. David Ige on March 26 implemented the state’s mandatory, 14-day self-quarantine for all out-of-state visitors to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Ige earlier announced a pre-travel testing program allowing travelers with approved, negative COVID-19 tests to bypass the quarantine upon arrival in Hawaii, which was originally expected to begin Aug. 1 and has since been pushed back to Sept. 1 due to an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases both here and abroad.

Of the 525 visitors who flew in on Monday, most, or 438, went to Oahu, while 67 went to Maui, and 20 to Kona on Hawaii island.

The majority of visitors on Oahu — 65.5% (287) — said they were here to visit family and friends, while another 12.8% (56) said they were here for a vacation. Travelers could choose one or more reasons for the purpose of their visit.

The data comes from the state’s mandatory travel declaration form for all passengers from out of state.

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