Gov. David Ige's announcement about the plan to relax additional COVID-19 travel restrictions starting July 8 was welcome news to many, particularly in the tourism industry. The industry is adjusting to the pent-up demand for travel and the latest reports on occupancy rates put it at around 60%.
The hotel workers union UNITE HERE Local Five expressed some frustration with hotels over the employment of housekeepers and other union members.
The head of the union, Eric Gill, claimed some big hotel chains have decided to eliminate daily cleaning of hotel rooms even though the union has a contract that specifies daily housekeeping.
The Conversation reached out to longtime hotelier Jerry Gibson, the president of a newly formed group called the Hawai‘i Hotel Alliance. The organization seeks to help kickstart the tourism economy again, as the state moves into this next phase of the pandemic.
"There are a lot more reasons we actually did it other than just needing to get going," he said. "We needed to be more proactive with legislation, and communicate with our legislators better so that so they could understand the business."
This segment aired on The Conversation on June 25, 2021.
