On Tuesday, Gov. David Ige laid out his plan that will allow Hawaii residents who are fully vaccinated to travel interisland without having to provide a negative COVID-19 test or submit to a 10-day quarantine.
Of all the recent steps to move the state out of the suspended animation of a pandemic year and back into a semblance of normalcy, this one in particular resonates in Hawaii.
When schools started cautiously bringing students back to campus again, that was big for kids, parents and educators.
When bars and restaurants could start to serve customers again, it was a celebratory milestone for those who missed eating out and having drinks with friends.
What a relief it was when hair salons welcomed back clients, when outdoor sports restarted for kids, when Kirk Caldwell let people sit on the beach again!
But residents being able to travel from one island to another within the same state without hassle is more than a logistical freedom. After a year of sacrifice and playing it safe, it is a triumph.
People on Oahu have seen the videos of tourists storming Maui beaches, and have had thoughts like, “Wow, I can’t even go visit Grandpa in Makawao without having to jump through a bunch of hoops, but there they are with a squadron of beach chairs in Kapalua and having a drum circle, mask-less and rule-less on the Makena sand. Why am I the only one having to fight COVID-19 by staying home and following rules?”
Ige’s new inter-county travel vaccination program will mean that fully vaccinated Hawaii residents 16 and over, who got their shots in Hawaii, can jump on a plane between islands like the old days. Trans-Pacific passengers and those who got their shots in other states will have to wait until the program is expanded.
In speaking of his inter-county travel vaccination program earlier this week, Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight” program that the overall goal for tourism going forward is “not having to just go for 10 million and 12 million and 15 million … It’s really about getting the best 8 or so million visitors who are willing to listen to our mandates, to respect our culture and our environment in a way that allows (us) to get a win-win situation.”
Um, nice idea, but will there be a screening process? Will potential tourists have to sit for interviews, pass a written exam, go through an audition?
OK, everybody who is willing to stay in resort-area hotels, eat at resort-area restaurants, tip well, wear fish-friendly sunscreen, and resist doing anything that will require a Fire Department air lift or lifeguard ocean rescue will advance to the next round, which will consist of a credit check and an analysis of spending habits to prove that you have the means and the behavioral history of dropping serious cash when you travel, and are not the type to just crash in some soggy $35 dollar a night spare futon and subsist on scrounged papayas and sandwiches from the food mart. You will then undergo a psych evaluation that will assess your degree of rebellion versus your ability to follow the dang rules and vacation like a respectful, decent, law-abiding human being.
If you are not selected to be a tourist in Hawaii, we recommend you rebook your travel plans to Florida, where they have more acreage and can therefore handle more nonsense. If you are offered a vacation spot in Hawaii, know that locals will still resent you, lawmakers will overtax you, businesses will overcharge you, and everybody still has PTSD from the days of 10 million tourists a year, so if you get a funny look, don’t take it personally.
No. The chances of figuring out how to get the “right” kind of visitors are pretty slim. The visitor industry — from the big hotel chains to the lady down the street who rents out the spare bedroom in her house — will never actively work toward fewer visitors, fewer flights, shorter stays, curtailed activities.
The pandemic represented a lost year for so many things. It caused a reset in people’s lives and in the way companies do business.
So many things will never be the same, and that’s good. But talking about changing tourism like it’s a matter of finding the “best” visitors is ridiculous. At the very least, now local residents who are fully vaccinated can fly between islands without having to go through requirements as though they’re coming from another state or another country.
And that is one step closer to the kind of consideration that is needed for residents to put up with all those millions of visitors.
