The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach is the first hotel to join the Genki Ala Wai Project, a cleanup effort that uses balls of helpful microorganisms to restore the polluted waters of the Ala Wai Canal.
Called genki balls, the baseball-size globs of clay, soil, rice bran and molasses house and feed yeast, lactic acid and phototrophic bacteria to digest and oxygenate the water. It’s estimated that 200,000 genki balls will need to be released into the canal over the next seven years to make the waters suitable for swimming, fishing and other recreational activities.
Douglas Chang, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach, said in a news release that the resort sees the project “as part of our kuleana (responsibility) to malama (care for) Waikiki. We look forward to welcoming our guests to support this effort so that our future generations can actually swim in the Ala Wai and enjoy it like my mother used to after it was constructed.”
Through its Malama Hawai‘i: Genki Ala Wai Project offer, $10 from every night of a guest’s stay will go toward funding two genki balls, with a matching contribution by the resort. In return, guests can enjoy a $20 nightly resort credit.
Guests interested in making a reservation or learning more about the offer can visit ritzcarlton.com/waikiki. For more information about the Genki Ala Wai Project, visit genkialawai.org.
Hawaii unemployment rate drops
Hawaii’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.1% in March from 4.2% the previous month, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said Thursday.
The drop continues a downward trend that’s been in place as the state slowly recovers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate fell to 3.6% in March from 3.8% in February.
The department said the leisure and hospitality sector added jobs, along with construction and professional and business services. The retail and wholesale trade sectors lost positions, as did health care and social assistance fields.
Hawaii’s jobless rate jumped from 2.2% before the pandemic to 22.4% in April 2020 as the spread of COVID-19 prompted the state to impose a quarantine on travelers. The rate has been gradually declining since.
