Hawaii tourism expects slow return of Japanese visitors

Monday, October 4, 2021

As the officials of Japan ease restrictions related to COVID-19 all over the country, the tourism industry of Hawaii can expect to experience a bounce back. However the leaders of the industry expect the return of the travelers from Japan in a gradual fashion. It will take some time before the economy of Hawaii experiences the positive effects.

When the pandemic rose to a worse situation, the number of Japanese visitors in Hawaii dropped more than 80%.

The experts of the tourism sector are quite positive that the Asia travel sector which was once a driving force for the tourism sector of Hawaii will slowly get back to full steam.

Japanese visitors comprised 15% of the annual visitor count for Hawaii. The average Japanese tourist spends 25 percent more per day than the average mainland tourist.

“I do know there is pent up demand for travel. We have been speaking with some of the travel writers there and some of wholesalers and I think they just want to make sure they do it correctly,” said Keith Vieira of hospitality consulting firm KV & Associates.

Vieira also mentioned that several leaders of tourism in Japan are waiting to see the green signal of the governor to tell the public that it’s now perfect to travel to Hawaii once again – after in Aug he told the travelers to put off their trips.
“The sooner we can tell people it’s safe to be in Hawaii the better,” added Lt. Gov. Josh Green.

“We all know now the risk is low. We’ve seen our hospitals drop 60 percent, we’ve seen our case counts drop 75 percent from peak.”

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