Hawaii sees drop in tourists 2 weeks after governor asks visitors not to travel to state
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii is seeing a drop in tourists two weeks after Gov. David Ige asked visitors not to travel to the islands amid a COVID surge, according to state data.
Safe Travels data shows Hawaii saw roughly 380,000 visitors in the two-week period leading up to Aug. 23, when the governor made the announcement.
Following the request, the state has seen around 252,000. While this does not include full numbers from people flying into Hawaii on Monday, it’s unlikely the state will see as many visitors as it did earlier this month.
Hawaii did see a slight uptick in numbers over the Labor Day weekend. About 65,000 visitors flew into the islands from Friday to Sunday. There were about 10,000 fewer the weekend before.
The governor had asked visitors to stay away due to the rapid community spread of the delta variant, which has been contributing to skyrocketing COVID cases and a strain on Hawaii hospitals. Despite this, the governor stopped short of announcing any new restrictions.
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