Yesterday, local authorities said visitor arrivals in Hawaii are on the rise. And that beg’s the question – why are people still traveling for leisure?! Stay home and flatten that curve, dammit!!
By the Numbers
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, visitor arrivals into Hawaii have been trending upwards since last Thursday. And, yes, these are VISITORS coming to Hawaii, not residents. Sure, there’s a mix of both, but still.
Specifically, last Thursday, the number of visitors that landed on the islands was at 89. Friday saw 94, Saturday had 106, and Sunday was up to 126. Sunday’s total was 583, including 233 returning residents and the remainder being made up of flight crews, transit passengers, and intended residents.
WHY??
Ok, I get it. Airfare to the islands is insanely low right now, but why the hell are people coming? But even with that, it isn’t worth it, in my opinion. Nearly all the good hotels are closed, as are basically all of our attractions, including most beaches. Yes, you can still go for a swim or go surfing, but lounging on the sand is prohibited. Doing so can earn you up to a $5,000 fine or a year in prison. What’s more, all passengers arriving in Hawaii or traveling between the islands are REQUIRED to self-quarantine in their home or hotel room. So, you can’t even go for a swim if you wanted to. Sure, you could violate the orders, but, again, you could receive a $5,000 citation and/or be arrested.
Heck, Kauai has a curfew and checkpoints, and Maui announced that they’d be implementing similar controls this week too.
Why Are People Still Traveling for Leisure, Final Thoughts
Seriously, people. STAY THE F**K HOME! There is no reason to go on vacation right now. And, doing so is putting not only yourself at risk, but your family, your community, and OUR COMMUNITY. So, please, just don’t. Hawaii has an aging population and we want to protect our kupuna (elders). But we can’t really do that if visitors keep coming here.
Yes, 25% of our workforce has lost their jobs because of the downturn in business. Plus, many restaurants and other small businesses are struggling, but we all agree that we all need to stay home and flatten the curve. The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can all get back to work, back to traveling, and more. So, again, PLEASE STAY HOME!
Personally, I left my house ONCE in the past week and a half to buy groceries. That’s it. I really try not to leave the house as much as possible. Even though I miss traveling, plane spotting, dining out, etc.
Want to watch me keep myself entertained at home? Tune in to my Instagram stories as I cook, sample new finds (that I order online), and more!
But for something even more entertaining, to check out Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami’s Facebook for his hilarious, dad joke, informational videos.
I don’t particularly see the appeal of Hawaii in general… but I’ll bite.
I’m traveling almost weekly for fun (not this week, but I booked 12 or so flights in the last 48 hours). Been going internationally, and when that closed, I’ll be visiting 11 new states in the next 6 weeks.
See, some of us still have cognitive abilities that haven’t been rotted away by watching television or social media.
We watch what is going on with complete apathy, as the facts and growing body of evidence indicate this is the biggest over-reaction in human history.
So, you can stay inside of you want, but unless you want to put a gun to other people’s heads. More and more of us are realizing that being controlled is counter productive at best, and totalitarian at worst.
Which means, I’m traveling again in a few days, spending money on airplanes, taxis, hotels and restaurants – all who desperately need it.
I’m not being selfish and staying inside and hoarding things. I’m being a human being, which is something no one is going to stop me from doing unless they have a lot better facts to present than ‘flatten the curve’.
blah blah blah another fake post by someone who pretending to so much more confident than the masses. so either “howard” is overcompensating for his personal insecurities, or simply he works in the travel industry and has skin in the game, trying to get people to make unnecessary trips so he can continue earning his commission.
Lol. I’m retired and have never worked in the travel industry or anything tied to it. So, *shrug* nice try.
I travel on my own, pay for everything and don’t speak for anyone else.
That said, angry Internet people like yourself really make a great argument…..
I still have a brain, and the ability to use logic and reason. I see zero risk in traveling, and I see no data that shows COVID-19 is worth worrying about on any level.
Until someone shows me data that says otherwise, I’m still traveling for fun each week on my own dime.
I’m beyond confused, I’m scheduled for a DCA-EYW flight next week (nonstop) and they’re all still going as of now. Flights this week so far have been completed. I wish we could see load factors, cannot imagine they have a lot of pax on board. Allegedly my flight next week is 2/3 full according to the seat map (tried to look at Expert Flyer but it was showing premium seats for everything). So bizarre. No one should be traveling and the airlines are not helping here by keeping these flights on the books. Pax don’t want to travel (I mean they do) but they’re not going to go.
Couldn’t agree more! The data would be nice too.
My message to the busybodies is to MYOB.
‘STAY THE F**K HOME! There is no reason to go on vacation right now.’ Couldn’t agree more. But then again, why assume that some, actually many, people give a two cents about safety and the risk to others. They simply could care less.
The only true protection/defense you have to avoid COVID-19 is YOU. Isolate. Do not go near other people. They are the carriers of COVID! The transmission source! But again, in the era of of pure arrogance, narcissism, ‘me, me, me’, the selfie generation of baby-men and women what does one really expect.
Consider that people were jumping on cruise ships in March! March! They couldn’t wait to get on the ship and then couldn’t wait to get off the ship, screaming for governments to use money and resources to come and get them like infantile COVIDIOTS.
And the cruise ships are scamming for U.S. Government tax dollar GRANTS – ‘grant’ means free, no strings attached to spend as they see fit. But the big cruise line companies like Disney, Princess might seem American, but they do not pay a single cent of U.S. taxes. The companies are registered in countries of convenience. The ships are flagged with country of convenience flags. Most of the ship workers are third world nationals, the crews are mainly foreigners who pay zero in U.S. taxes, but profit from the U.S. market. They all want free money from America! NO! Sheer madness!
Nothing is more Self centered, by the way, than ‘stay home’.
The entire economy is collapsing over one of the least deadly diseases we’ve seen in years. But, because of people like you, spreading fear. We’re hurting so many others.
The true ‘non-narcissistic’ thing to do, would be to go and travel, spend money, run businesses, you know… be a human. Not a hermit only concerned with yourself.
COVID-19 is scientifically worse than anything we’ve seen in recent history. It has an extremely high transmission rate, and a much higher rate of death than your average flu. 1% to 3% might not sound like a lot, but it WAY higher than the seasonal flu. Plus, we understand very little about the virus, have no proven treatment (unlike the flu) and have no vaccine (again, unlike the flu). We thought it primarily killed those 60 and older with medical conditions, but increasingly it is killing healthy, young people too. And part of the danger is that we do not have the necessary medical capacity to treat a large surge of patience, which is why social distancing is important.
True, the economy is tanking and businesses are closing. But if we didn’t take action, millions would die in the US alone. The death rates are lower than initially thought because of social distancing. If we did nothing, we could’ve seen something similar to (but probably not quite as bad) as the Spanish Flu of 1918, which lasted for 2 years and killed nearly 50% of those infected. Can you imagine if COVID-19 went on for two years and had a higher rate of death? The impacts to the global economy would be much more severe.
If you’re not convinced, I highly suggest you go read up on all the scientific papers being put out by various universities and research organizations around the world. Even the DoD listed this as a threat to national security last year.
Further, staying at home doesn’t mean you need to hoard. My family is purchasing only what we need and being very rational about things. I’ve also been doing a lot of online ordering lately to support many small businesses across the country. We can all do our part while still helping to flatten the curve.
YES! This is the most I’ve ever stayed home. Period. And going out, quite frankly, gives me anxiety these days. Especially since the local news reported that an employee at a grocery store I went to over the weekend thought they may have the virus. Thankfully, that ended up not being the case. But, still!
As far as cruise ships go, seems like NCL might be the only one of the large flags that qualify… at least for one ship, the Pride of America. US flagged and homeported right here in Honolulu. She hasn’t left the pier in weeks, though a crew remains aboard to maintain her.
BTW… the cruise industry isn’t getting squat. If they are a foreign flagged carrier they are entitled to ZERO $$$.