A 2-mile stretch of Kuhio Highway, the main thoroughfare for Kauai’s north shore, will remain closed into October, and repairs will exceed the earlier $40 million estimate.
Shelly Kunishige, state Department of Transportation public information officer, said the severe flooding and landslides that ravaged Kauai’s north shore from April 13 to 16 left a portion of Kuhio Highway with some 32 emergency repair sites, including Waioli Stream Bridge, the Waipa Stream Bridge and the Waikoko Stream Bridge. The state DOT is stabilizing the slope beneath the highway in five locations and expects this work, along with the bridge work, to be completed in the fall.
“We are seeking federal highway emergency relief funding. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Kunishige said. “We are looking at October for completion of the emergency repairs, which are expected to exceed the previous $40 million estimate.”
While overall tourism to Kauai was still up through May, some members of the isle’s visitor industry fear the extended highway closure, along with the continued shutdown of several bucket-
list type attractions like the Kalalau Trail, Kee Beach and Limahuli Garden and Preserve, could cause visitor arrivals to slow. The prolonged highway closure will keep Hanalei Colony Resort and the north shore’s alternative vacation rentals closed to visitors as they have been since Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho initiated an emergency rule. Carvalho’s order, which was extended May 23 for another 60 days, prohibits the operation of transient vacation rentals in the disaster region.
The north shore of Kauai beyond Hanalei has been cut off from the rest of the island and closed to tourists since mid-April when Lumahai, Wainiha and Haena were named as federal, state and county disaster sites. Since the disaster, vehicle weight restrictions have been set for the most northern section of Kuhio Highway, which is open only intermittently to essential recovery personnel and credentialed residents.
Jay Talwar, chief marketing officer for Hawaii Tourism United States, said domestic traffic to Kauai is up nearly
43 percent through May from the year-earlier period. But Pleasant Holidays, a major West Coast-based wholesaler, reports Kauai bookings made in June for that month and future months are down 10 percent from a year ago. Airbnb, which was affected by the vacation rental bans, reports that nearly 14 percent of its Kauai bookings have been canceled since April 14. The closure of nearby lodging and attractions also caused some Hanalei town retailers and food operators to report softening.
Sue Kanoho, Kauai Visitors Bureau executive director, said, “The transient vacation rental operators have taken a significant financial hit. It’s clearly had an impact on other businesses in the area, too. That’s why we are encouraging people to go into Hanalei town to eat in a restaurant or go shopping.”
Talwar said demand is building since the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Kauai Visitors Bureau launched a new website, Hanaleitown.com, and #supporthanalei, a social media campaign that geographically targets visitors who are on Kauai or contemplating making a trip there.
So far, Talwar said,
#supporthanalei advertising has been on screen 1.7 million times and reached some 583,231 Instagam and Facebook users. Some 137,376 people have viewed the video, and 4,859 people have clinked the link to Hanalei
town.com, he said.
“The campaign has gained a lot of traction. It’s reached a lot of people and moved them to action in a very short amount of time,” Talwar said.
Kanoho said the Kauai Visitors Bureau also has conducted TV interviews with travel moms that have aired across key cities including Los Angeles; Portland, Ore; Denver; Atlanta; Chicago; Phoenix and Tampa, Fla.
Sonja Moffat, who owns Hanalei establishments Bar Acuda and AMA, said the promotions are making a difference.
“There was a tremendous drop in April, but it picked back up again after school released in early June,” Moffat said. “We’re now flat against last year. It’s busy again — perhaps too busy. People are parked all over the streets. Some of us feel that we should use this time to find greater balance.”
Still, some businesses have taken large hits. The Hanalei Colony Resort announced Monday that it would remain closed indefinitely. Repairs to the resort, which was heavily damaged, are expected to be ongoing for at least several months. Kuhio Highway restrictions have delayed supplies and nonessential utility crews from reaching the resort. The resort’s phone service, which was compromised, remains unreliable.
Kanoho said further delays in Kuhio Highway repairs likely would cause thousands of dollars more in losses for Kauai’s North Shore vacation rental operators, who sometimes charge as much $400 a night.
“We really don’t know how many vacation rentals there are, but we know it’s a tremendous economic impact to the hosts,” she said. “We are getting three to five calls or emails a week from visitors who had planned to stay in vacation rentals, asking if they’ll have access. Many of them have told us that they have nonrefundable airfare, and we’ve helped them book somewhere else on the island.”
Matt Middlebrook, Airbnb public policy manager for Hawaii, said the vacation rental host site has collaborated with state and county agencies to turn off the calendars on listings where a ban has been implemented due to these disasters.
“These events highlight the fragile nature of the tourism sector and the importance of remaining proactive to ensure the economies on Kauai and Hawaii island don’t fall further behind,” Middlebrook said.
Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, said Hawaii is still up year over year for the company, but he’s no longer expecting a “record summer” thanks to the flood-related downturn on Kauai and Hawaii island’s even more dramatic volcanic activity-related decrease.
“I was very bullish about Hawaii 60 days ago, but as we head into the peak summer season, the news just isn’t as good. We’re definitely seeing booking slowdowns — especially on Hawaii island and Kauai,” he said. “Hawaii needs to continue marketing very aggressively.”
