Every spring since 1964, Hilo on the island of Hawaiʻi hosts the week-long Merrie Monarch Festival, a spectacular community-driven event showcasing Hawaiian culture and the world’s premiere hula competition. The event typically draws thousands of residents and visitors for the highly anticipated festivities each year, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions this year’s festival was scaled down and there was no public, in-person event to attend.

Instead, hālau hula gathered at Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium to perform their hula kahiko and ‘auana before a panel of judges with no crowds in the stands. While the energy of thousands may have been missing, the hula performances themselves were outstanding as always.

The Merrie Monarch Festival was recorded and broadcasted on Hawaiʻi News Now’s KFVE on July 1, 2 and 3 and streamed to a worldwide audience. To take in all the performances, visit www.hawaiinewsnow.com/merriemonarch.

It is a privilege to support this prestigious Hawaiian cultural event and we extend our congratulations to all of this year’s participants.

Last summer at this time, ‘Iolani Palace was challenged with a growing bee population within the palace’s exterior walls and a Coronation Pavilion in certain need of repair which took away from the beauty of this historic royal residence.

When learning about this last August, HTA reached out to The Friends of ʻIolani Palace to form a partnership that provided funding to help repair and restore the majestic grounds. The goal of the project was to expedite repairs to the palace facade and the Coronation Pavilion.

In that process, several pieces of the palace’s exterior walls were removed to successfully eradicate several old beehives. The impacted area was cleaned and repaired, which included sealing off the affected section and repainting it.

The Coronation Pavilion, which was also in bad shape with concrete spalling and rotting wood, required significant work as well. All affected areas were repaired with new concrete, and many of the rotted wood features of the pavilion were also carefully replaced with a fresh coat of paint applied and a new concrete topping poured on the floor.

This project has helped to ensure that staff and public are able to safely visit the ‘Iolani Palace grounds. The completion of the improvements also means the Coronation Pavilion is usable again. In the past, it was used for gubernatorial inaugurations, where memorable speeches were made, where weddings and special events were held, and where the Royal Hawaiian Band would play.

We look forward to seeing many great events taking place at the Coronation Pavilion and the palace grounds in the years to come.

Visitors headed to the Hawaiian Islands are being educated about being a mindful traveler through a media campaign supporting the Mālama Hawai‘i program that was launched in May and will continue through this month.

The campaign, which features island ambassadors sharing their personal stories about the importance of taking care of the ‘āina (land) and kai (ocean), is currently running on digital and social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, and has already amassed more than 22 million impressions through the first week of July. The initiative invites travelers to give back while on vacation and includes more than 100 travel industry partners and community organizations statewide that are enhancing a visitor’s experience.

Three-quarters of American travelers will take at least one vacation or getaway over the next three months, while 15.3% will take a business trip and 7.5% will travel for a conference or convention. That’s according to Destination Analysts’ “COVID Tracker – Vaccination Status of U.S. Travelers” study which shows a growing confidence in travel as more Americans get vaccinated and travel restrictions continue to be relaxed making traversing the country more accessible.

New guidelines now allow fully vaccinated Canadians, permanent residents and certain foreign nationals to avoid staying in mandated quarantine hotels and

self-isolating for 14 days upon arrival in Canada. Travelers must have two doses of a vaccine approved by Canada, provide a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before arrival, take a second test upon arrival, and have a quarantine plan in the event the arrival test comes back positive.

This September, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines will operate two charter flights each totaling nearly 1,400 seats from Incheon to Honolulu during Chuseok, Lunar Thanksgiving. Chuseok, which translates in Korean to “Autumn Eve,” also known as hangawi, is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in South Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar on the full moon. Hawai‘i Tourism Korea (HTK) is also working with both airlines on their resumption plans to bring back their regularly scheduled flights to Hawai‘i later this year.

Consumer Activity  

In partnership with Caribbean Bay, the biggest water theme park in Korea, HTK is implementing a consumer co-op promotion conveying Mālama Hawai‘i. This includes an onsite consumer grand prize giveaway running through August 22 to increase engagement amongst active outdoor leisure lovers who have visited Caribbean Bay. Multiple banners are being displayed, educating potential visitors about the Hawaiian Islands and responsible travel with Mālama Hawai‘i messaging. They also include a QR code linking to the Mālama Hawai‘i videos for viewing. In addition, another online giveaway is being held on Caribbean Bay’s official website with the first prize sponsored by Ala Moana Hotel by Mantra.