Hawaii: Swine flu keeps tourists at bay, may cost state millions

Hawaii tourism just can’t catch a break lately. If there was once hope that the islands might receive a small boost from vacationers looking for alternatives to Mexico following swine flu’s first breakout, the mood reported on the islands now seems rather dismal.

On May 5, Hawaii confirmed its first case of novel H1N1 influenza. Today, the state has 30 confirmed cases, according to the Hawaii Dept. of Health website. Fearful of the swine flu, would-be visitors — especially those from Japan, who are dealing with an outbreak on their home turf — have been opting to stay away.

And this is a major blow to the already distressed economy. According to a Honolulu Advertiser article “Hawaii swine flu scaring off tourists“:

The number of Japanese visitors arriving in Hawai’i plunged over the last two weeks amid swine-flu fears - even though Hawai’i cases have remained few and mild - and cancellations over the next few months are likely to cost the state millions more in lost revenue.

That’s the assessment from several businesses that specialize in Japanese visitors. State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said, “It is very concerning” to see a double-digit decline in arrivals that began on May 10 with a whopping 25 percent drop in daily arrivals.

“And that sharp decline is continuing today,” Wienert added.

In Hawaii, 12 of those infected are connected to students and family members of a Honolulu school. Japan itself has seen a rapid escalation of swine flu victims, with the WHO listing today’s count at 159 confirmed cases.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Waikiki shoreline. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 3:39 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Business Travel, Hawaii, Healthy Traveler, News, Tips & Advice, Oahu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.