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665 visitors arrive by air in Hawaii on Thursday

A total of 665 visitors flew to Hawaii on Thursday, the highest in the last seven-day period, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

On Thursday, the 665 visitors were among 2,650 passengers that flew in on 31 flights despite a mandatory, two-week quarantine for all passengers flying in from out of state.

There were also 812 returning residents, and 249 individuals planning to relocate to Hawaii.

Another 201 were military, and 160 exempt from the quarantine, while 277 were flight crew and 286 in transit.

The number of visitors Thursday was an uptick from 570 on Wednesday, which was the 18-week mark since Hawaii’s mandatory self-quarantine was implemented for out-of-state travelers to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Despite the quarantine, the number of visitors has been on a steady, upward trend, rising from the 100s in April to as high as 937 just before the Fourth of July weekend.

Nevertheless, the numbers are a huge plummet from the approximately 35,000 passengers that arrived in Hawaii daily, including residents and visitors, HTA said.

The number of visitors to Hawaii dropped in June to 17,068, a 98% decrease from the same month last year, contributing to the overall decline for the last six months.

The majority of visitors, 553, on Thursday went to Oahu, while 49 went to Lihue, Kauai, 32 to Maui and 31 to Kona on Hawaii island.

As usual, most of the visitors to Oahu, 63.5% (351), said they were visiting friends and family, while 6.3% (35) said they were here on vacation. Travelers could choose more than one reason for the purpose of their trip.

Data is collected from the state’s mandatory travel declaration form.

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