Aloha Bruce is back in the studio with Lanai Tabura for the newest Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast (with a full canoe paddle between them for obvious Hawaii COVID-19 social distancing reasons). Bruce and Lanai get right to the question of what “aloha” and Aloha Spirit mean to Hawaii visitors during a pandemic.

Lanai likens the attitude of Hawaii residents toward the visitors to how we look to our grandmothers for wisdom and truth. What would Grandma do?

Our hosts agree that the Aloha Spirit is alive and well, even though visitor arrivals have stopped. Lanai shares stories of longtime employees at historic destinations like the Royal Hawaiian Hotel who have known to visit families for generations. Aloha endures.

Bruce and Lanai also talk about the pandemic tourists arrested for breaking their commitment to Hawaii’s legal quarantine and broadcasting it on social media. The “Travel with Aloha” slogan floated by the state is noted as Bruce talks about a possible voluntary testing protocol for incoming visitors to avoid quarantine.

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The conversation moves to vacation rentals and Lanai says, “Everyone wants to reopen.”

Our podcast hosts answer listener questions about traveling to Hawaii, give proper shout-outs to the Show Aloha Challenge participants, and offer straight talk and local knowledge about what it is happening on the ground in Hawaii tourism.