COVID-19 didn't keep most visitors to Hawaii during a two-week period that included the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays from enjoying themselves, a recent study found.
Almost 90% of visitors between Dec. 21 and Jan. 4 reported an "excellent" satisfaction with their visit, Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) reported in a study released earlier.
"Despite challenges for some in the pre-testing process, the vast majority of visitors (85%) rated their trip 'excellent," the authority said in a Feb. 1 news release issued with the study. "Ninety-four percent said their trip either exceeded or met their expectations."
The 32-page study released last month found that almost every visitor who participated in the survey was aware of Hawaii's pretesting protocols before they arrived in the state. Of those, 79% reported that their pre-travel testing went smoothly. The vast majority also reported they were aware of limited tourism amenities, such as COVID-based closures and restriction, and of local government mandates.
The special study surveyed visitors from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii to gauge visitor experience with Hawaii’s Safe Travels program and overall trip satisfaction.
The survey was conducted by the HTA's Tourism Research Division in partnership with Anthology Research.
The findings from an online visitor survey, which asked about the COVID-19 vaccine and whether Hawaii's rate of COVID-19 infections was a factor in visiting, were presented during HTA’s board of directors meeting on Jan. 28.
"Nearly all of the respondents were aware prior to arriving in the islands of the local government mandates in place to prevent the spread of the virus and limited availability or capacity of visitor amenities," the news release said.
It was all smooth sailing for a sizable number of the study's participants. About 46% reported the 72-hour window for COVID testing was unreasonable and 15% reported their results did not arrive in time for their visit to Hawaii.