by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:30 AM ET, Mon May 24, 2021
Hawaiian Governor David Ige said the state plans to allow non-essential travel for vaccinated tourists by the July 4 holiday period without the additional requirements of pre-travel COVID-19 tests.
According to KHON2.com, Governor Ige said he was "caught off guard" by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) announcement that mask mandates should be reduced due to the falling number of coronavirus cases.
Hawaiian officials are concerned about not being able to tell who is vaccinated or not and the local population has not shown support for lifting the mandate yet. Governor Ige said he is hopeful the state can lift the current mask mandates by the middle of June, but won't lift the restrictions until more of the community is vaccinated.
"We are emphasizing at the airports, as people come in, you know, there's a lot of signage announcements being made that Hawaii does have a mass mandate and that people need to wear masks," Governor Ige told KHON2.
"We're encouraging all partners to remind all visitors that we ask them to be respectful of our community and what we're trying to achieve here, which is really a healthy and safe place," Ige continued.
As for the possibility of offering incentives to reward those who are vaccinated rather than catering to those who are not, Ige said the state is "looking at that and we're having a lot of discussions with the business community about how they can help us get more people vaccinated or incentives that they may be able to offer vaccinated individuals."
Last week, the Hawaii Tourism Authority released its Hawaii Hotel Performance Report, which reported significantly higher revenue per available room (RevPAR), average daily rates (ADR) and occupancies in April 2021 compared to April 2020.
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