Hawaii Tourism Authority Releases Special Visitor COVID-19 Study

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) just released the results from a two-week-long study they conducted amongst visitors from the U.S. mainland. For two weeks in December 2020, HTA surveyed almost 500 visitors about their experience with Hawaii’s Safe Travels program, their overall experience in Hawaii and the likelihood that they’d recommend Hawaii to others.

Almost all of those surveyed were aware of limited tourism amenities like closures and restrictions (96%) and most were also aware of local government mandates (99%). These results show that travelers’ expectations were in line with what they’d experience.

Though the overall experiences were great, the pre-travel testing caused some confusion and dissatisfaction for travelers. Nearly 100% of those surveyed were aware of the pre-arrival testing protocols, which requires travelers to present a negative COVID-19 test result from a nucleic acid amplification test from one of their Trusted Testing and Travel Partners taken within 72 hours of departure to Hawaii (if that is not completed, travelers are subjected to a 10-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival). Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they experienced issues with their pre-arrival testing, with 46% saying the 72-hour window is unreasonable, 37% said it was difficult to find a trusted testing partner, 18% had problems with the testing partner and 15% said their results did not arrive in time.

Despite all of that, 85% of people rated their trip “excellent,” 94% said their trip either met or exceeded their expectations and 86% said they were very likely to recommend visiting Hawaii to a family member or friend.