Listen to Marketplace each weekday at 6 p.m. on HPR-1. This story originally aired on “Marketplace” on Feb. 24, 2025.
Early in the pandemic, Hawaiʻi's economy was hit especially hard as tourism came to a screeching halt.
Four years ago, Marketplace started talking with Manu Powers, who runs Sea Quest Hawaii with her husband, about what that meant for their boat and snorkel tour company based in Kona on the Big Island.
In the years since, business has continued to be unpredictable, and Powers has had challenges finding qualified staff members.
As the winter season comes to a close, business at Sea Quest is down, Powers said, because visitors to Hawaiʻi are down. Another complicating factor? The waves.
"Over the winter the surf was huge, and Kona is known for having virtually no surf," Powers said. "The number of cancellations we've had to make are crazy."
Sea Quest continues to be understaffed, as it has been since early in the pandemic.
"I'm tired of talking about this problem five years later, to be honest," Powers said. "But I think that it's universal. There's hiring signs in every window of every business in the state, really. Hawaiʻi has always had a smaller job pool to work with. That hasn't changed."
What has changed, Powers said, is the cost of living in the state. "It's so expensive to rent a home here. If you don't have two jobs, you have two roommates."
