Pandemic drives sharp drop in Hawaii tourism, with arrivals down 75%
Stricken by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii tourism entered 2021 in critical condition with visitor arrivals down 74% from the previous year, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
The agency reported 2.7 million visitor arrivals in 2020, when tourism shut down in mid-March as the virus took hold here and across the globe. That compares with 10.4 million arrivals in 2019.
The attempted reopening of tourism in the last quarter of 2020 through the state’s Safe Travels pre-arrival testing program didn’t do much to boost the industry’s vital signs, HTA reported, with December arrivals down 75% compared with the same month in 2019.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/01/29/hawaii-news/pandemic-drives-sharp-drop-in-hawaii-tourism-with-arrivals-down-75/