Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
06-14-2020, 05:39 AM
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/ghost-town-tourism-plummets-coronavirus-hawaii-grapples-great-132500615--abc-news-topstories.html
World
Hawaii grapples with Great Depression-level unemployment as tourism plummets
CATHERINE THORBECKE
Good Morning AmericaJune 13, 2020, 8:25 AM CDT
Peter Yee has been furloughed from his job at a rental car company since late March, and now says he spends up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week answering questions and sharing advice in the Facebook group, "Hawaii Unemployment Updates and Support Group."
In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the economy of the picturesque town of Kahului on the island of Maui where Yee lives.
"Driving through the main little areas was like a ghost town," Yee told ABC News.
MORE: Pandemic shows need for Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders participation in census
The unemployment rate in Kahului skyrocketed to 35% in April -- nearly 10% higher than the national unemployment rate at the peak of the Great Depression -- and the highest of any metropolitan area in the U.S., according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
PHOTO: In this photo taken Friday, June 5, 2020, people walk past the closed doors of the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
PHOTO: In this photo taken Friday, June 5, 2020, people walk past the closed doors of the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
As COVID-19 decimated tourism and the planes stopped coming in, job losses on the island piled up with unprecedented furor. In March, Kahului had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 2.2%.
In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 on the islands, Hawaii’s government acted fast -- imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all visitors. While the move was lauded by many and proved effective in preventing major outbreaks of the respiratory disease on the islands, the impact to tourism, Hawaii’s biggest industry, proved quick and severe.
"I knew that was a kiss of death," Yee said of the quarantine. "I'm not saying I'm against it, but I knew that there would be virtually zero visitors and zero business for my industry."
PHOTO: In this photo taken June 5, 2020, barriers block off the entrance to the temporarily closed Sheraton Waikiki hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
PHOTO: In this photo taken June 5, 2020, barriers block off the entrance to the temporarily closed Sheraton Waikiki hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
'You go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred'
Carl Bonham, the executive director and a professor at the Economic Research Organization at University of Hawaii, told ABC News that the most recent data puts Hawaii's unemployment rate at 22.3% in April, but because these surveys were conducted early that month before many of the job losses, some economists estimate it's 30% or more.
"The range of unemployment estimates will vary dramatically," Bonham said. "The bottom line is it’s bad, a lot of the data is problematic right now because of sort of changes in what it means to be in the labor force."
The closest comparison in living memory is after 9/11 when air travel took a major hit, according to Bonham, but he said "this is completely different."
"After 9/11 there were literally zero planes in the air," he said. "That was a very different situation in that we had a shutdown of tourism for a short period of time, but we didn’t shut down the rest of the economy."
"Because we rely completely on air travel, when you shut down tourism with a 14-day quarantine and you go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred, that’s a very different situation from a place that may still be getting some visitors by car,” he said.
The community of Kahului saw the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increase in April, shooting up more 32.5% points, according to the BLS’s most recent data. As the travel industry was hit hard by the pandemic, fellow tourist hubs Las Vegas, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, saw the second and third highest increases in over-the-year unemployment rates.
Bonham said due to high cost of living and a lack of jobs, they are forecasting an exodus from Hawaii within the next few years.
Obvious insanity rules. Ignorant people destroying what they had. Truth of the abject stupidity of some people, imho.
Who is going to spend money to fly to a place to quarantine for 14 days, before the first day of a vacation in a deserted once thought to be paradise of beaches, beauty and fair weather..?
Yet again we see the insanity of liberals when in power.-Tyr
World
Hawaii grapples with Great Depression-level unemployment as tourism plummets
CATHERINE THORBECKE
Good Morning AmericaJune 13, 2020, 8:25 AM CDT
Peter Yee has been furloughed from his job at a rental car company since late March, and now says he spends up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week answering questions and sharing advice in the Facebook group, "Hawaii Unemployment Updates and Support Group."
In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the economy of the picturesque town of Kahului on the island of Maui where Yee lives.
"Driving through the main little areas was like a ghost town," Yee told ABC News.
MORE: Pandemic shows need for Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders participation in census
The unemployment rate in Kahului skyrocketed to 35% in April -- nearly 10% higher than the national unemployment rate at the peak of the Great Depression -- and the highest of any metropolitan area in the U.S., according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
PHOTO: In this photo taken Friday, June 5, 2020, people walk past the closed doors of the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
PHOTO: In this photo taken Friday, June 5, 2020, people walk past the closed doors of the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
As COVID-19 decimated tourism and the planes stopped coming in, job losses on the island piled up with unprecedented furor. In March, Kahului had some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 2.2%.
In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 on the islands, Hawaii’s government acted fast -- imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all visitors. While the move was lauded by many and proved effective in preventing major outbreaks of the respiratory disease on the islands, the impact to tourism, Hawaii’s biggest industry, proved quick and severe.
"I knew that was a kiss of death," Yee said of the quarantine. "I'm not saying I'm against it, but I knew that there would be virtually zero visitors and zero business for my industry."
PHOTO: In this photo taken June 5, 2020, barriers block off the entrance to the temporarily closed Sheraton Waikiki hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
PHOTO: In this photo taken June 5, 2020, barriers block off the entrance to the temporarily closed Sheraton Waikiki hotel in Honolulu. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
'You go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred'
Carl Bonham, the executive director and a professor at the Economic Research Organization at University of Hawaii, told ABC News that the most recent data puts Hawaii's unemployment rate at 22.3% in April, but because these surveys were conducted early that month before many of the job losses, some economists estimate it's 30% or more.
"The range of unemployment estimates will vary dramatically," Bonham said. "The bottom line is it’s bad, a lot of the data is problematic right now because of sort of changes in what it means to be in the labor force."
The closest comparison in living memory is after 9/11 when air travel took a major hit, according to Bonham, but he said "this is completely different."
"After 9/11 there were literally zero planes in the air," he said. "That was a very different situation in that we had a shutdown of tourism for a short period of time, but we didn’t shut down the rest of the economy."
"Because we rely completely on air travel, when you shut down tourism with a 14-day quarantine and you go from 30,000 airline passengers per day to a few hundred, that’s a very different situation from a place that may still be getting some visitors by car,” he said.
The community of Kahului saw the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increase in April, shooting up more 32.5% points, according to the BLS’s most recent data. As the travel industry was hit hard by the pandemic, fellow tourist hubs Las Vegas, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, saw the second and third highest increases in over-the-year unemployment rates.
Bonham said due to high cost of living and a lack of jobs, they are forecasting an exodus from Hawaii within the next few years.
Obvious insanity rules. Ignorant people destroying what they had. Truth of the abject stupidity of some people, imho.
Who is going to spend money to fly to a place to quarantine for 14 days, before the first day of a vacation in a deserted once thought to be paradise of beaches, beauty and fair weather..?
Yet again we see the insanity of liberals when in power.-Tyr