Tourism Authority: With traveler quarantine in place, Hawaii saw 4,500 visitors in April

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii saw 4,564 visitors in April, new tourism figures show.

That’s a 99.5% decline from last April, when the state got 856,250 visitors.

The pandemic has virtually shut down the tourism industry, and visitors who still decide to come must fulfill a mandatory, 14-day quarantine. Those who break quarantine face arrest or fines.

The tourism authority said that about 3,000 visitors in April were from the West Coast, and about 1,200 were from the U.S. East. Just 13 visitors were from Japan, and nine were from Canada.

Meanwhile, tourism for the first four months of the year is down about 37% from the year before.

From January to April, the state saw 2.1 million visitors.

The new figures come amid growing debate about how to restart tourism to the islands, and as the state is bracing for a slow recovery. In a recent economic outlook report, the state predicted the tourism industry might not restart in earnest until September and that 2020 arrivals will top out at 3.4 million.

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