Maui Business

The fourth in a series of community budget meetings for fiscal year 2022, hosted by Mayor Michael Victorino and his administration, will be held on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 starting at 5:30 p.m.

First Hawaiian Bank announced today that it will reopen on Oct. 19 four more branches – two branches on Hawaiʻi Island and one each on Maui and Kauaʻi – that were temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All across Maui, hotels, vacation properties, car rental companies, restaurants, retail shops and other businesses that cater to the island’s 3 million or so annual travelers are preparing for the return of non-quarantining tourists, beginning Oct. 15. So what to expect? No one can say with any authority what numbers of visitors will travel to Maui through the end of the year. But most agree: The recovery is going to start out slowly.

The US Department of Energy has awarded Nalu Scientific, a Honolulu-based technology firm, $2.3 million in grants to continue its work on high-performance microchip and ultrafast camera, according to a news release from Nalu Scientific.

Hawaiian Airlines today announced it will temporarily suspend ‘Ohana by Hawaiian passenger and cargo services effective Nov. 1. Hawaiian, which reduced its workforce by nearly 2,500 employees this month when the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Payroll Support Program expired, will suspend its ‘Ohana by Hawaiian passenger flights between Honolulu and Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i, as well as cargo-only service within the Hawaiian Islands. Service between HNL and Kapalua in West Maui was suspended in March.

For the fourth straight year, Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi has received five out of five stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for its 2021 Medicare plan.

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority report showed Maui County with 123,100 available unit nights in August, which is a decrease of 57.9% compared to a year ago, the largest vacation rental supply in all four counties; unit demand also decreased 94.7% with 12,100 unit nights, resulting in 9.8% occupancy with an ADR of $229.

NOHO HOME By Jalene Kanani, a home decor company, collaborated with non-profit Bishop Museum in Honolulu on Hawaiian snail-inspired pillowcases whose profits will be donated to help with the museum’s fundraising during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The State has made it clear that they want to move forward with the pre-travel testing program, without the second test,” Mayor Victorino said. “Many of our businesses and working families are struggling, so we are moving forward with the transpacific program.

Governor Ige hosts a media briefing today to discuss the upcoming pre-travel testing program for the state and other comprehensive safety measures ahead of the Oct. 15 launch. 

The governor has already denied requests from Maui and Kauaʻi for post-testing proposals; however Maui Mayor Michael Victorino said, “even though he has denied the second test for incoming trans-Pacific travelers, he is still in favor of looking at some other alternatives.”

A new report compiled by the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization shows that the number of tenants fully caught up on rent dropped from 95% prior to the pandemic to 85% in August.

The Agriculture Micro Grants Program provides grant funding of up to $25,000 to farmers on Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is welcoming guests back on Nov. 20, 2020.

The unique wide 50-degree angle, the industry’s highest depth resolution, captures more detail for extremely high-quality 3D images that increase diagnostic confidence and enables earlier detection of even subtle lesions.

This week, the Maui Chamber of Commerce announced the product vendors who will be participating in their 7th annual virtual Hawaiian Airlines Made in Maui County Festival, to be held virtually on Nov. 7 and 8, 2020.

Maui County has launched of an online resource directory to connect Maui County’s small businesses for services and products during COVID-19, Mayor Michael Victorino announced. The Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory is a one-stop, online resource for small businesses.

The Maui Chamber of Commerce now is seeking nominations for the Annual Mayor’s Small Business Awards in 2020. The awards recognize outstanding businesses in the community that have 100 or fewer employees and have had a Hawaii General Excise Tax license for no fewer than two years.

Menor McNamara called the program a “win-win,” saying, “it provides people who have qualified  a little extra cash and also helps local small businesses that are struggling.”  She noted that since March, an estimated 60% of Hawai‘i’s businesses have fully or partially closed.

Since mid-March, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to an abrupt shutdown of Maui’s tourism economy, emergency food distribution sites have sprung up at more than 30 locations around the island, and on Molokaʻi and Lanai. While residents’ needs for food has ebbed and flowed based on government assistance availability, it hasn’t gone away. Far from it. Maui County’s unemployment remains the highest in Hawaiʻi – and among the highest around the country – at 20.7 percent. The emergency food giveaways continue.