Maui Locks Down With No End In Sight

May 29, 2020

LAHAINA - On April 25, 2020, Hawaii Gov. Ige announced the mandatory 14-day quarantine for all persons traveling to the state of Hawaii and/or traveling inter-island. This quarantine is to be continued through June 30, 2020. Residents are still being asked to stay at home. In a matter of months our world has been transformed. Thousands of people have already died, and hundreds of thousands more have fallen ill.

A different story here in the middle of the Central Pacific. The Garden Isle of Kauai has not had any new cases in almost 30 days. It seems our elected officials are reluctant to give up their clinching grip on our economy and our daily lives. I have no doubt that the stock market and mainland economy will soon go back to normal, but the future of Maui is up in the air. It has been reported it will take six years for visitor arrivals to recover to the 2019 level. This information was sourced was from a 2nd Quarter report issued by the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, which was used in detailing the outlook for Hawaii's economy going forward.

Prior to the pandemic tourism was in record numbers but spending amongst tourist was historically less than years past. This was due in part of the increase in short-term rental availability and the luxury of a having Costco or Walmart so close to the airport. Hawaii was one of the hardest hit states economically but we are well positioned to go beyond recovery and evolve into a more balanced and diversified economy. Let's hope during this lock down our state is restructuring how Hawai'i does buiness in the new decade.

                                                                                         

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