Hawaii governor tells tourists to stay away as COVID cases surge

• Hawaii's governor told tourists not to visit the islands as COVID cases surge.
• Hawaii became a popular vacation spot again as the pandemic eased, with locals complaining of overtourism.
• Maui's mayor previously asked airlines to limit seats to the island.

As Hawaii's COVID-19 cases climb, Governor David Ige asked tourists to postpone their travel plans to the state.

"It's not a good time to travel to the islands," Ige said in a press conference, according to KITV. "The visitors who choose to come to the islands will not have the typical kind of holiday that they expect to get when they visit Hawaii."

The governor also noted that restaurant capacities are restricted and visitors will have less access to rental cars.

Though international travel to Hawaii has plummeted, domestic travel to Hawaii has increased since 2019, even though the islands haven't fully reopened yet. Maui in particular has become a favorite vacation destination from people from the mainland US, as travel restrictions bar Americans from international travel and because of the high rate of COVID-19 vaccines, the AP reported.

In July, the mayor of Maui asked airlines to limit the number of seats available for flights to the island, though similar to Gov. Ige, he also didn't mandate strict travel rules. Ige said that last March, the state cut almost all tourism in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Like many other popular tourist destinations, the cut back on travel into the country has impacted its economy. Total visitor spending in June in Hawaii was down 12% since June, 2019, when the state brought in $1.63 billion, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The number of seats airlines are offering is also down 16% since the same period in 2019.