{"id":130258,"date":"2020-11-06T16:31:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T02:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=130258"},"modified":"2020-11-06T16:31:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T02:31:48","slug":"count-tourists-daily-says-uhero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/11\/06\/count-tourists-daily-says-uhero\/","title":{"rendered":"Count tourists daily says UHERO<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

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At the start of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s pre-travel COVID-19 testing program on October 15, more than 8,000 trans-Pacific passengers flew into the state compared to an average of fewer than 2,000 the week before. But how many of these passengers should be counted as tourists\/visitors?<\/p>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Economic Research Organization<\/a> (UHERO<\/abbr>) article published on November 6, suggests using daily trans-Pacific passenger arrival data provided by the Safe Travels Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> program<\/a> to estimate the number of deplaning visitors, since it would provide higher-frequency visitor data than monthly estimates currently provided by the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Tourism Authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The higher-frequency data would provide a more detailed picture of how tourist travel is responding to policy changes, such as pre-travel testing, according to authors James Mak<\/strong>, UHERO<\/abbr> research fellow and emeritus professor of economics, and Carl Bonham<\/strong>, UHERO<\/abbr> executive director and professor of economics.<\/p>\n

Safe Travels Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> was launched on September 1, by the State Office of Enterprise Technology Services. The program collects health and passenger information digitally and is mandatory for all travelers entering the state.<\/p>\n

Tourism outlook<\/h2>\n

While the state has seen a spike in visitors since the launch of the pre-travel testing program, the numbers are drastically lower than the daily average of more than 25,000 per day in October 2019. UHERO<\/abbr> estimates that the pre-travel testing program alone will not bring visitors back quickly and in large numbers.<\/p>\n

UHERO<\/abbr> is housed in the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Social Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more on UHERO<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n