Hawaii Drops Travel Restrictions, Overflows Quickly with Tourists

Hawaii has eased some of its travel restrictions on Thursday, announcing that fully vaccinated domestic tourists no longer need to quarantine or take a pre-flight COVID-19 test.

Unvaccinated tourists still have to either quarantine or test negative 72-hours before flying to the islands. But for those who are vaccinated, this new announcement is "really going to be a game-changer," Sheri Kajiwara, Hawaii's Safe Travels special projects administrator, said, according to Jenn Boneza's report for KHON2 News.

However, the dropping of travel restrictions for fully vaccinated tourists might not lead to an extra boost in tourism, primarily because most people have already booked their summer "revenge vacations," the University of Hawaii's Economic Research Organization told KHON2's Nikki Schenfeld.

Regardless, at the rate tourists are currently flocking to Hawaii, the number of travelers headed to the warm-weathered state are already coming close to or surpassing 2019's levels. And now, locals and businesses are feeling the strain of mainlanders swarming the islands again.

Over-tourism is not a new issue for Hawaii, but local figures like Kaniela Ing — former Hawaii House of Representatives member and current climate justice campaign director at People's Action — want tourists to "stop coming to Hawaii," Ing wrote in a tweet that now has over 120,000 likes.

It's not just locals that are feeling this burden: businesses in Hawaii are also struggling to meet the demands of this rising number of visitors.

Even companies like U-Haul in Hawaii have been feeling this strain. Hawaii's rental car fleet dropped by over 40% during COVID-19, and many car rental companies haven't been able to regrow their fleet sizes in time for the summer travel boom. As a result, tourists headed to the Aloha State have turned to renting moving trucks and vans, decreasing U-Haul's on-hand equipment for locals.

Source: Business Insider