Aulani This December?

[JM23457]

It's a balance. Widespread COVID-19 wouldn't do wonders for the economy either there.

The situation has no balance now. Hawaii is almost completely closed off from tourism by government mandate. Most resorts and tourism vendors are closed. Unemployment is high and many small business owners are having to close shop permanently.

Meanwhile, Covid numbers aren't keeping all of the tourists away from Florida. Some, yes (and many other potential tourists aren't ready to travel at all regardless of Florida's numbers), but Florida's tourism sector is at least functional and keeping people employed & in business.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The situation has no balance now. Hawaii is almost completely closed off from tourism by government mandate. Most resorts and tourism vendors are closed. Unemployment is high and many small business owners are having to close shop permanently.

Meanwhile, Covid numbers aren't keeping all of the tourists away from Florida. Some, yes (and many other potential tourists aren't ready to travel at all regardless of Florida's numbers), but Florida's tourism sector is at least functional and keeping people employed & in business.

My reference was more to what having large numbers of Hawaii residents require hospital care does to the economy, not to tourists' willingness to come. Hawaii has history of outsiders bringing disease to the island, and islanders don't forget.

 

[kyton]

It would be interesting to know what numbers of visitors to Florida bring COVID with them and on the flip side how many take the infection home with them.

I can completely understand Hawaii as a state keeping control over visitors. Here in Australia we had done the same, we’re doing a fantastic job of almost getting rid of new cases then BOOM an infected returning citizen comes back to Australia, a security lapse leads to a whole new second wave currently gripping 1 state massively, a second state getting numbers again and a third state having it’s first transmission in over a couple of months.

This is how insidious the disease is - and when you are an island with limited resources on hand you want to minimise any chance of outbreaks.

 

[JM23457]

This is how insidious the disease is - and when you are an island with limited resources on hand you want to minimise any chance of outbreaks.

How does an island with a tourism-centered economy survive for a year without tourism? It can't, without extreme damage to the state, its services that are dependent on taxes such as schools, etc., and its people.

 

[JM23457]

My reference was more to what having large numbers of Hawaii residents require hospital care does to the economy, not to tourists' willingness to come.

Tourists drive Hawaii's economy. That's why their willingness to come matters. There are other medical needs people have besides Covid, that go untreated due to lack of health care caused by shutdown-induced poverty.

 

[kyton]

We will have to agree to disagree - I’ve been visiting Oahu since 1992, we are somewhere up to 28-29 visits. I fully support their “lockdown” if that is what they think is best for their population. My “want” for a holiday doesn’t trump their right to safety. Even our kids as much as they adore and are missing the place like crazy understand that to do the hard yards to save a population is always better then letting in people which will then also inevitably lead to deaths.

 

[JM23457]

My “want” for a holiday doesn’t trump their right to safety. Even our kids as much as they adore and are missing the place like crazy understand that to do the hard yards to save a population is always better then letting in people which will then also inevitably lead to deaths.

Many of them "want" to reopen the businesses they worked their whole lives for, and to go back to their jobs so they can support their families.

Poverty takes lives. Poor nutrition & lack of regular medical care are both poverty-driven, and they take lives every day.

Also, a conservative reopening plan (such as their planned 72-hour testing protocol) is a way to reopen without flooding the islands with Covid cases. It isn't an all or nothing situation.

 

[maryr1oz]

They may be able to reopen their tourism industry in a different capacity - there was talk about Hawaii being interested in joining a Pacific travel bubble with Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Of course things change so fast, it is hard to know what will happen. We should have been at Aulani right now, and already our rebooked trip for May 2021 looks less than certain to me.

 

[bavaria]

Many of them "want" to reopen the businesses they worked their whole lives for, and to go back to their jobs so they can support their families.

Poverty takes lives. Poor nutrition & lack of regular medical care are both poverty-driven, and they take lives every day.

Also, a conservative reopening plan (such as their planned 72-hour testing protocol) is a way to reopen without flooding the islands with Covid cases. It isn't an all or nothing situation.

Exactly. The arrogance of those who expect a population to remain closed is frustrating. Privileged nations like Australia, New Zealand, etc are impacting the lives of those already living in poverty in places like Fiji, and yes, Hawaii. It is not reasonable to continue to keep borders closed globally, and the impacts of this are now being felt in places like Africa, or Asia, as NGOs and voluntary services cannot access those who are at risk of starvation, or dying from other illnesses.

Hawaii has two industries - the military, and tourism and related services. They cannot switch gears to become a tech industry, or revert to agriculture as a main industry, without years of change.

What should have happened in the past six months is improved testing, tracing, social distancing, increased medical services and ICU beds. From all that I read, the state government failed at most of those in Hawaii, and the only effort has been to remain closed. One of the poorest states will become even more poor in the coming weeks. White collar workers and business owners have already lost jobs, and people are already leaving Hawaii. They have an impact on the remaining open businesses and there are endless reports of businesses gone for good.

And remember, any reopening will take months to see any sustainable visitor numbers as people need advance notice to plan trips. Japan has an aggressive domestic tourism plan including rebates and deep discounts, so even if Hawaii does eventually open to Japan they will be competing with the domestic market for any business. (And Japan's numbers are currently increasing so no guarantees that they will be included in a bubble.)

 

[asunutgirl]

We were supposed to be at Aulani in early June. In April, I rebooked that trip to Christmas week. My family is super excited. On the other hand, I don't expect that we will be able to go. Hawaii's r-naught is the worst in the country and their cases are on the rise. I just don't see how we will be allowed to travel.

For anyone who had their trip canceled by DVC, how far in advance did they notify you?