Despite gloom and doom predictions of mass cancellations, Hawaii's Big Island and Maui have more tourists this April than pre-Covid in 2019. And on Hawaii's Big Island, which has had the second airport test for months now, they've beat both 2019 and 2018 tourist visitor numbers for April, an amazing accomplishment considering there are still no cruise passengers in the state.
While surely there will be the test-skittish who may cancel, there appears to be many more tourists who see the additional level of testing as a reason to visit with the area that much more safe from disease.
I have friends from the midwest who traveled to Hawaii a few weeks ago. One of their pre-travel test specimens got lost, so they had to scramble in the 11th hour for a re-test. And of course they had to deal with the test on arrival at KOA. But through the process, and without vaccination yet, they felt rather invincible and enboldened. Unlike their hometown, they were able to eat out inside and hang out around a pool without masks with fellow tested tourists. For them, they felt far safer on vacation than at home...which made the vacation that much more enjoyable tor them.