Still, the bombings were a grim reminder of how fragile the state's No. 1 industry can be.

State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said she doesn't believe yesterday's attacks will affect Hawai'i and referred to last year's train bombings in Madrid, Spain. Hawai'i did not see any decrease or increase in visitors that could be attributed to that particular catastrophic event, she said.

"So as we look at the London attacks — other than the emotional trauma that they are going through, and of course, we feel for them — I don't feel that it will affect our economy, especially where visitor arrivals are concerned," she said. "And that's solely based on history."

Barry Wallace, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts senior vice president of operations, agreed.

"I hate to make little of such a tragic situation, but if you think about the bombings in Madrid back in March of 2004, I think the world hospitality industry recovered quite quickly from that," he said. "And I think that that would likely be the case here."

Wallace said U.S. hotels may also benefit because more U.S. travelers might think twice about vacationing in London.

"It certainly serves as a reminder that we're not in control of our destiny. I think in the case of this situation it's far enough away and specific enough an event that its impact on travel to Hawai'i will be minimal. But it definitely serves as a reminder that these are really fragile times."

Frank Haas, Hawai'i Tourism Authority tourism marketing director, acknowledged that visitors may choose Hawai'i and other domestic locations rather than going abroad.

"But once again, I don't know, it could cause some people to just not travel at all," he said.

"The incident really does point out how fragile the industry is. We're having a terrific year, we had a terrific year last year, we seem to be fully recovered from 9/11, and then something like this shows how fragile it can be. So we do have to wait and see what impact it will have. ... But we've been looking at such a strong summer that if there is an impact, it would be moderated by the strength of demand for Hawai'i."

It's too early to tell what kind of impact the attacks will have, said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i and French Polynesia. He said concerns about traveling to Europe could benefit Hawai'i over time, but that could be offset by concerns about traveling anywhere.

"It's certainly not something we'd ever want to market," he said. "We're sorry what's happening over there; we don't want to take advantage of it. We just have to watch over time what that does to traveling psyche, and hopefully people will look at Hawai'i as this exotic, but safe, destination. Although we never want to play the safe card because that could just backfire on you — or, I guess, the bachi (bad luck) effect."

Vieira also said the attacks reinforce the fragile nature of the business.

"When you read articles about carrying capacity and that we're getting too busy, from an industry standpoint it concerns you because this could all be greatly affected by something that is happening thousands of miles away," he said. "To put those things in the equation when we get concerned about carrying capacity and how many visitors are too many visitors, you can't ever take it for granted. It could all disappear."

Walter Jamieson, dean of the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management, said he is impressed by the ability of the tourism industry to rebound from previous setbacks, and that it's crucial that the industry assure visitors that all possible steps are being taken to deal with emergencies, both in prevention and response.

"Our hope, of course, has to be that with this assurance that they will continue to travel," he said.