VOLCANO — Warnings that Kilauea volcano could shoot boulders and ash out of its summit crater are prompting people to rethink their plans to visit the Big Island.
But most of the rest of the island is free of volcanic hazards, and local tourism officials are hoping travelers will recognize the Big Island is ready to welcome them.
Rachel Smigelski-Theiss is among those who have shifted gears. She had intended to visit Kilauea’s summit with her husband and 5-year-old daughter and stay in Volcano. Now they’ve canceled their trip. She’s worried potential flight disruptions would strand them on the island.
“My equivalent of this — and I’m from South Florida where we have hurricanes — is driving quite literally into a hurricane,” she said.
Hawaii officials have had a busy month pleading with travelers to keep their plans even as dramatic images of natural disasters afflicting the islands have bombarded televisions and social media feeds.
In April, floods on Kauai Island made travelers nervous. Then last week, it was Kilauea volcano sending 2,200 degree lava bursting through cracks into people’s backyards in Leilani Estates. Then as Kilauea’s magma shifted underground, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake rocked the Big Island.
And now, scientists are warning that an explosive eruption may occur at the summit crater within weeks.
Robert Hughes, the owner of Aloha Junction Bed and Breakfast in Volcano, said he’s had “tons” of cancellations since Wednesday when geologists first warned of the explosive eruption. But Hughes, a 45-year resident of the village, suspects he’ll soon hear from adventurers and photographers who want to see the eruption up close.
“I’m not too worried about it because I’ve lived here so long and I’ve seen it go through lots of different episodes,” Hughes said.
The CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the agency that markets Hawaii to the world, said Kilauea is being monitored around the clock to provide the public with the best information. But George Szigeti noted that the Big Island is “immense” and there are large parts of the island unaffected by the volcano.
Ross Birch, the executive director of the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau, said officials “walk the fine line.”
“We know what people are going through in Leilani Estates. And we don’t want to seem callous and inconsiderate in our messaging and our promotion of the island,” he said. At the same time, tourism is the island’s biggest industry and people’s livelihoods are dependent on visitors coming, he said.
“We want to make sure that everybody is still working and people have jobs to go back to,” Birch said.
