New Travel Restrictions for Hawaii Visitors

HTAJohnDeFries | eTurboNews | eTN
John de Fries, CEO Hawaii Tourism Authority
Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Hospitals in Hawaii are almost full, ICU Beds are hardly available, but more than 20,000 visitors still arrive in the Aloha State every day.
After a year of silence, the Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO is now speaking out urging visitors and residents to stay home and not travel.
This was echoed by Hawaii Governor Ige today.

  • Hawaii Governor. David Ige today called upon Hawaii residents and visitors to delay all non-essential travel through the end of October 2021 due to the recent, accelerated surge in COVID-19 cases that is now overburdening the state’s health care facilities and resources.
  • Governor Ige made the announcement on Friday at a media briefing, noting that, “Our hospitals are reaching capacity and our ICUs are filling up. Now is not a good time to travel to Hawaii.” 
  • Governor Ige added, “It will take six to seven weeks to see significant change in the number of COVID cases. It is a risky time to be traveling right now. Everyone, residents and visitors alike, should reduce travel to essential business activities only.”


Hawaii is still packed with visitors. Shopping malls like the Ala Moana Shopping Center, Waikiki, and most hotels are full. FLights are sold out, but this may be ending very soon.

Tourism is the biggest commercial industry in the Aloha State. New restrictions on tourism arrivals could cripple this industry and the economy as altogether in the State of Hawaii.

With up to 1000 new cases of COVID-19, hospitals full, tourism is no longer sustainable at this moment in the Aloha State. Authorities in Hawaii and the rest of the United States had put the economy over health, and this mistake now shows – and it is frightening. Hawaii as an island state has even bigger challenges.

John De Fries, president, and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority noted that even though visitor arrivals overall are already starting to decline, as is historically the case in the fall, visitors should consider postponing their travels to Hawaii. 

“Our community, residents, and the visitor industry are responsible for working together to address this crisis,” De Fries said. “As such, we are strongly advising visitors that now is not the right time to travel, and they should postpone their trips through the end of October.”


Dr. Elizabeth Char, director of the Department of Health, emphasized the urgency of the current situation. “The surge of COVID cases is mainly due to community spread, followed by residents flying to hotspot areas abroad and bringing COVID back into their households and community,” Char said. “If things do not change, our health care systems will be crippled and those needing medical care for all types of diseases, injuries, and conditions, including our visitors, may find it difficult to get the treatment they need right away.”

The Hawaii-based World Tourism Network urged the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Hawaii Governor Ige to act. This request was ignored and responded by banning this publication from asking questions at press events.

eTurboNews predicted more restrictions are forthcoming, and this is the first step today.

At this time, there are travel restrictions in effect for all the major Hawaiian Islands, including the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Hawaii (the Big Island), Molokai, and Lanai.

This includes trans-Pacific travel restrictions required for all travelers not currently vaccinated within the United States.

At this time, due to the surge in local cases caused by the Delta variant, it can be predicted that travel restrictions may be re-instated, including the PCR tests for everyone arriving in the Aloha State to avoid the still mandatory 10-day quarantine.

The test is currently mandatory for non-vaccinated travelers only.

On August 10 the following new restrictions within the State were ordered by Governor Ige.

  • Social gatherings will be limited to no more than 10 people indoors and no more than 25 outdoors.
  • Patrons in restaurants bars and social establishments must remain seated with parties maintaining at least 6 ft distancing between groups (with maximum groups size of 10 indoors and 25 outdoors); there will be no mingling, and masks must be worn at all times except when actively eating or drinking.
  • The counties will review proposals for all professionally sponsored events for more than 50 people, to ensure that appropriate safe practices will be implemented. Organizers of these professional events must notify and consult with the following county agencies prior to the event. County approval is required for professional events for more than 50 people.

Juergen Steinmetz, chairman of the World Tourism Network said in response to this announcement: I am pleased to see HTA finally speaking out. Obviously, this is also our home, and what happens here makes it very personal. We again offer the Hawaii Tourism Authority our support to work with our global network and experts and leaders in 128 countries to coordinate and maneuver through this dangerous crisis.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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