Hawaii’s tourism industry sees hope with return of cruise ships and meetings

Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Group, Viking and Resident at Sea have expressed interest in resuming Hawaii sailings in 2022, ending a nearly two-year hiatus following a pandemic-related no-sail order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state Department of Transportation Harbors Division told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that it “is negotiating port agreements with several cruise lines” that include the state’s Safe Travels requirements.

Cruise ships stopped calling on Hawaii with the CDC order issued March 14, 2020. The CDC issued an updated conditional sailing order in October 2020 setting forth testing, laboratory standards and other trial sailing conditions required of cruise ships to operate in U.S. waters.

With the national rollout of COVID-19 vaccines this year, the federal agency on Oct. 25 updated and relaxed the requirements of the conditional order.

The return of cruise ships is important to recovering Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy. Another major milestone this week is the relaxing of rules that make group travel and events possible again. Both of these high-spending sectors have been dormant for much of the pandemic and are needed to help offset continued sluggishness from the international travel sector.

The Hawai‘i Convention Center will fully reopen its exhibit halls in January for meetings and events after hosting multiple public- sector agencies and programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Wednesday the counties are no longer required to obtain the approval of the governor or the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency prior to issuing their own emergency orders, rules or proclamations.

“These steps serve to revitalize our visitor industry at an appropriate time, with our state’s vaccination rate ranked among the highest in the nation, coupled with the health safeguards for domestic travelers that are required by Hawaii’s Safe Travels program,” said Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO John De Fries in a statement. “The modified federal restrictions on international arrivals and the continuation of Hawaii’s indoor mask mandate provide additional safeguards.”

Mayor Rick Blangiardi has lifted capacity limits and social-distancing requirements for events on Oahu, a key to resuming meetings and conventions at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and various resort properties.

“The announcement gives meeting planners added confidence to book events and reassure attendees they will have a safe and memorable visit here in the Hawaiian Islands,” De Fries said.

Travel uncertainty

The changes signal that more of Hawaii tourism is now open for business. The state’s economy is now expected to end 2021 above earlier projections with the start of the return of the international market in December.

But more shocks could be in store for Hawaii tourism with the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus as the busier festive season arrives on the heels of a solid Thanksgiving travel period.

The U.S. and a number of other countries have announced international travel restrictions to slow omicron’s spread. The Biden administration is requiring inbound international passengers to test for the coronavirus within 24 hours of departure and extended mask requirements into March on domestic flights and public transportation.

Other nations, like Japan, which on Monday closed its borders to new foreign entrants for about a month, have taken swift steps to mitigate spread of the variant. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways already have suspended new reservations for international flights.

Eric Takahata, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Japan, said travelers from Japan to Hawaii can still come if they had previous bookings. However, they will now have to quarantine for 14 days upon their return. Japan had shortened the quarantine to 10 days but reinstated the longer term Wednesday, Takahata said.

“If visitors from Japan don’t have a reservation to a foreign destination, they won’t be able to make one until at least the end of December,” he said. “The expectation is that other countries in Asia, like Korea, will follow suit. It also will be interesting to see what Oceania does; they’ve been even more conservative than Japan.”

Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Tara Shimooka said: “In light of the most recent announcement by the Japan government, we’ve resumed our booking process with adjusted capacity on all flights between Hawaii and Japan in December.

“Our schedule remains unchanged and there is no impact to guests with existing reservations,” Shimooka said. “The news on the COVID-19 variant Omicron is rapidly evolving and we will continue to monitor and adjust our operations as warranted.”

Takahata said Hawaii’s tourism recovery is likely to be pushed back as the world monitors omicron and looks to the CDC and World Health Organization for guidance.

“We’ll probably see some hesitation to book, like we did with the delta variant. There will be some effect not only for international, but domestic as well,” he said. “This is a sucker punch. Every time we think we are rounding the corner, here we go again.”

Cautious reopening

Meanwhile, the cruise industry and the meetings, convention, incentive and events sectors are prepared to continue reopening, albeit cautiously.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, the needs for these spaces have changed, and we will be welcoming meetings and events back to our exhibit halls,” Hawai‘i Convention Center General Manager Teri Orton said in a statement.

The center has developed health and safety measures led by ASM Global’s comprehensive VenueShield program, Orton said. It also has developed a new virtual meetings package to offer guests the option of attending meetings remotely.

The second Young at Heart Expo, which opened Friday at the convention center and continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, is the first major indoor event in Honolulu since Blangiardi loosened restrictions. The Star-Advertiser is one of the major sponsors of the event, which was originally planned for September.

Aimed at attendees age 50 and older, the success of the exposition bodes well for continued recovery of Hawaii’s group business travel market, which will rely on similar safety protocols.

Retiree Greg Ching, former district governor of Toastmasters International, said he regularly attended the Hawaii Seniors’ Fair at the Neal Blaisdell Center and was excited to check out the Young at Heart Expo.

“The setup was nice. There was a good mix of booths,” Ching said. “It wasn’t crowded. I didn’t notice any problems with the lifting of restrictions. We didn’t have to socially distance; we just showed our vaccine cards and wore our masks.”

The Pride is back

Another boon for Hawaii’s economy is restart of NCL’s Pride of America in Hawaii, with the first sailing planned for Jan. 22.

“As we close out a successful year restarting voyages with more than half our fleet and welcoming more than 100,000 guests worldwide, we look forward to sailing in 2022 with the restart voyage of Pride of America,” said NCL in a statement.

NCL over the past two decades has been the only major cruise line to sail year-round in Hawaii. The company said it has worked with experts to enhance its onboard and ashore health protocols.

The return of cruise ship travelers and group travelers is incredibly important to Hawaii’s beleaguered activities and attractions market. NCL America’s upcoming interisland cruise from Jan. 22 to 29 alone includes nearly 100 hours of port time.

Toni Marie Davis, executive director of the Activities & Attractions Association of Hawaii, said cruise ship travelers make up about 20% of Hawaii’s activities and attractions market. The group business also is important because they tend to buy out days, which spreads out leisure bookings, creating a consistent base of business.

“Hawaii tourism was the worst impacted of any state for COVID, and the activities and attractions industry was the hardest hit,” Davis said. “Our activities and attraction industry fell 70% to 100% at the height of COVID. The return of cruise ships and group travel is a very positive development. ”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.