In Hawaii, reimagining tourism for a post-pandemic world
14 minutes to read
By: Tariro Mzezewa
Before Covid, tourism was at this point where everything was about tourists. With the one-year anniversary of travel s collapse, Hawaii, like other overtouristed places, is hoping for a reset. For a visitor who was on the island of Oahu in 2019 when a record 10.4 million people visited Hawaii, returning to Honolulu nearly a year after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic is breathtaking.
At Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, souvenir shops and nearly all food vendors have closed. In neighbourhoods around the state s capital, restaurants and bars, tour operators and travel agencies have shuttered permanently, and many that remain appear to be shells of the popular jaunts they were before the pandemic. Hotels with skeleton staffs. No tourist-filled buses blocking the entrances to attractions. Plenty of room to move on sidewalks without bumping shoulders.