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Airfare and hotel sales, not dengue fever, are drawing the most attention to Hawaii, as mainland travelers book low-cost vacations and mostly ignore reports of a virus outbreak.
Major tour operators are reporting few questions from travel agents and prospective customers about the dengue virus that has infected more than three dozen people.
All but one of the cases have been from east, the state Department of Health reports. The other case is on Kauai, but the infected person recently traveled to east Maui, state Health Director Bruce Anderson says. There
are unconfirmed reports of dengue on the other islands.
None of the operators interviewed by PBN reports cancellations specifically because of the flu-like virus spread by mosquitoes.
"I'm just not picking anything up on it," says Dave Herren of Mark Travel, a Milwaukee-based tour wholesaler. Herren also sells packages for United Vacations. "It sounds to me like it's controlled and not much of an issue."
That's welcome news to Gov. Ben Cayetano, who feels local media have sensationalized the story, unnecessarily scaring people. Stories about the outbreak are being reported on CNN, MSNBC and through The Associated Press.
"Let's put this in some context. We have a couple hundred tuberculosis cases each year," Cayetano says. "We have about 1,000 cases of botulism. This dengue fever problem, I believe, we will be able to contain it. Notwithstanding the press reports, we have this problem under control."
More than 8,000 people booked trips to Hawaii through Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays...