Hawaii doesn’t want tourists anymore?

Despite the coronavirus, the world of tourism still works in some regions in the world. Although there are sanitary restrictions and recommendations to avoid contagion, the truth is that it was impossible to ban travel . For this reason, there are always people who wants to spend a vacation or discover fantastic places, such as Hawaii.

At first, the main economic activity in the region (tourism) was completely paralyzed . At the beginning of the pandemic there were fines ranging from US$ 5,000 to a year in jail for those who violated the quarantine . This implied a blow to the economy, but also a new way of living for its inhabitants.

When discovering a new way of life without tourists, the mentality of hawaians changed. A local tourist survey revealed that 65% of people do not want tourists to return to the island . This situation could be drastic for the archipelago, but the truth is that there is an interesting change of mentality in terms of travel. Let's analyze it.

Tourism in Hawaii

The first thing we must understand is that this region of the United States has an average of 10 million annual visitors , being one of the most visited tourist destinations on the planet, since people from all over the world want to know its culture, relax on its beaches and enjoy everything this land has to offer.

In April 2020, we had seen that, due to restrictions, the tourism sector was almost completely paralyzed . As a result, residents seem to be experiencing a new, much calmer life, which is why they seem to be reluctant with the idea of returning to the old lifestyle full of tourists. The same report tells that 62% consider it "impossible" to return to the previous tourist situation safely .

The problem is that this territory is maintained, to a large extent, thanks to tourist activity. More precisely, this industry represents 21% of the region's GDP . For this reason, the economic downturn led to visible consequences for its residents. For example, a Star Adviser report specified that the unemployment rate soared to 10%, the highest in the United States, with more than 58,000 people without job .

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This poses an enigma for the region, since Hawaiians seem to be much more comfortable with the absence of tourism, but it is also necessary for it to return, since the main activity lies in that sector. For this reason, several alternatives are beginning to emerge, such as the case of Iceland. Stopping the tourism income implied a recession for them, so they began to open their doors in a segmented way, through filters .

Basically, it is about allowing the arrival of the wealthiest people, who are the ones who will spend the most on the island . In this way, the number of people in the region is limited, the possibility of contagions is reduced and an emergency line is provided to local workers, who depend on tourism to improve the local economy.

The situation seems so drastic that even a small Hawaiian island paradise (known as Oahu) decided to offer "free trips" to boost its economy and allow people to do Homeoffice from there.