America's bloodiest day
Hundreds cancel trips

By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer

More than 25 groups and 350 individual travelers have canceled Hawai'i trips since terrorist strikes on Tuesday, tourism officials said, launching the first bout of uncertainty about how the incidents will affect travel to the Islands.

Cancellations of events in the next eight weeks have begun rolling into Island hotels and tour operators, and local executives said they expect more in the days to come, although long-term effects are still unclear.

"The first two weeks of all of this, people are going to be in a freeze-frame mentality, where they'll automatically postpone, cancel or delay a decision," said Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau chief executive Tony Vericella. "The obvious level of impact is going to be much more severe between now and the next eight to 16 weeks."

More than 25 groups have canceled meetings, conventions or incentive trips to Hawai'i hotels since Tuesday, Vericella said, and many others have pushed their events to later in the year.

It was unclear what percentage of total bookings the cancellations represent, he said, and many hotels are still trying to reach scheduled clients. More than 80 percent of these groups are from the Mainland.

No bookings have been cancelled in the Hawai'i Convention Center, Vericella said.

On the leisure side, 350 cancellations have been received by one tour operator alone, and Vericella said other companies are getting cancellations at a much higher rate than usual. It was also unclear what percentage of the total bookings these cancellations represent, Vericella said.

War and violence — especially terrorism — can have a severe impact on tourism destinations. Fear for personal safety, a desire to stick close to home, and uncertainty about the economy can cause people to cancel trips or not make plans in the first place, said travel trend expert Peter Yesawich.

"One of the typical responses we see in reaction to any incident of this type — like the Oklahoma City bombing — is it spikes consumer anxiety about traveling any distance from home and it spikes their concern about flying," Yesawich said. "That sentiment will dissipate fairly quickly ... (if) we get closure on the culprits and the reaction. If we're having this conversation three weeks from now, and we haven't bombed anybody or arrested anybody or gotten to the bottom of the rubble, the sentiment will be very much alive."

During the Gulf War in 1991 — which never touched U.S. shores — Hawai'i lost about a quarter of its visitor traffic. Already this week, many companies have taken swift preliminary measures.

Japan's major tour operators have canceled all package tour departures to Hawai'i, Guam, Saipan, the Mainland, Canada and Mexico through Sept. 14.

In addition, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany canceled all flights to the United States through Sept. 14.

Out of respect for the tragedy — and a worry that any efforts would be ineffective — the visitors bureau yesterday pulled more than $100,000 worth of television advertising set to run on the West Coast over the next several days. It also pulled advertising in Japan on Sept. 12 and 13, Vericella said, and is considering extending that.

"We're going to review (advertising and marketing plans for) all the markets until the end of the year," he said.

But some people apparently continued to book vacations. Ken Phillips, a spokesman for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, Hawai'i's largest wholesale tour operator, said the company has received 1,000 bookings since Tuesday. Most of those trips are for November and December, he said.

"Overall, there's not a mass denial of travel," he said.

Michele Kayal can be reached at mkayal@honoluluadvertiser.com. Staff writer John Duchemin contributed to this report.