Hawaii Tourism Officials Seek to Calm Travelers After Volcano Eruption
Photo Credit: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, pictured here, closed briefly last week following the Kilauea eruption. Flickr / Ewen Roberts
Skift Take
Poor geography knowledge is a bane of nearly every destination's existence. Natural disasters are an unfortunate opportunity for tourism officials to educate travelers, even if many will always struggle to read a map.
The Hawaiian Islands span about 1,500 miles and no two of the eight islands are quite alike. But for the past week, headlines of a volcanic eruption, lava flows, and hundreds of earthquakes on Hawaii Island have given plenty of travelers a reason to reconsider their plans to travel anywhere in the state.
Kilauea, an active volcano on Hawaii Island, erupted on May 3 and has caused nearly 2,000 residents to evacuate. A magnitude 6.9 earthquake was also recorded on May 4 and aftershocks from the eruption are ongoing.
But tourism officials tried to assure travelers that areas of destruction were isolated.
Some 35 structures, including 26 homes, had been destroyed as of Monday morning local time, according to Hawaii's Civil Defense Agency. "Please, the residents of Leilani need your help," the agency said in a statement. "This is not the time for s
