Businesses across the state are continuing to re-open after months of COVID-19 closures. But with the mandatory two-week quarantine still in place for out-of-state tourists, businesses are re-examining their relationships with the sometimes overlooked kama??ina customer.
Business is picking up again says Hilo shop owner Mua Merriman. Her store Island Nation carries one hundred percent local products from clothing to Hawaiian books to hats and bumper stickers. She says her customer base has always been a healthy balance of tourism versus local.
“The local customers always come back you know they know if they need something, they know where to go,” says Merryman.
But since the COVID-19 closures, sales have dropped by 75 percent. The quarantine mandate for out-of-state travelers virtually shut down the state’s tourism industry, which just last year reported a record 10 million visitors. Merryman hopes local consumers can keep her in business.
“You know it’s hard because that tourist income is definitely something we all benefit from,” says Merryman.
“Anything would be better than the last two or three months,” says De La Cruz.
Half of the market’s vendors sell produce while the other half sell arts and crafts, and mostly to tourists. De La Cruz says vendors are eager for tourist dollars but they’re also aware of the public health risk of increased out-of-state travel.
“Realistically, I’m not sure if it’s going to come back as fast as people want or as strong as people want,” says De La Cruz, “And we might even have a couple of setbacks along the way.”
Hilo bar owner Ryan Williams hasn?t reopened yet. His drinking establishment Margarita Village is right across the street from Hilo Harbor, a perfect spot for cruise ship passengers.
“Kama??ina and locals are very, very supportive of local businesses as much as they can but you know there’s only so much that us locals and kama??ina people can do to support each other,” says Williams, “We need the influx of regular tourists as well to really make the economy come back.”
Merriman believes a certain amount of tourist dollars will eventually come back, but she wants to position her business in a way that caters to the kama??ina.
“I do think that it’s kind of a sacrifice that in the long run its better for us because it’s so hard to be dependent on such a fluctuating industry and just for Hawai?i to be more sustainable in general is the direction we should move in,” says Merriman, “So I guess, I am willing to make some sort of sacrifice.”
