Volcanic eruption at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa offers tourism benefits during slowing season | Traveling

The sight of hot lava spewing out from Hawaii’s Mauna Loa has drawn thousands of visitors and is becoming a tourist boon to the world’s largest nearby Big Island town. volcano.

Some hotels in and around Hilo are being fully booked at what is usually a slower time of year. Helicopter tours of Mauna Loa, which began erupting on Sunday after 38 years of silence, are also in high demand among tourists and journalists.

“Right now, it’s exploding,” said Marian Somalinog, a receptionist at the Castle Hilo Hawaiian hotel. “We sold out until after Christmas.”

She attributes the increase to people wanting to see rivers of bright orange molten rock erupting from Mauna Loa, a shield volcano called “Long Mountain” in Hawaiian. Lights from the eruption can be seen in the distance from parts of the hotel.

This time of year is usually a slow season for Hawaii’s tourism industry, falling between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But this week, thousands of cars blocked traffic on Route 200, known as the Saddle Road, which connects the cities of Hilo on the east side of the Island of Hawaii and Kailua-Kona on the west.

Volcanic flows pose a potential future threat to that major artery but are still several miles (km) away and pose no danger to any communities. That means viewers can enjoy the spectacle while being in less danger. Tourists and locals were crowded, many taking pictures and selfies.

However, Somalinog did not bother to join them.

“Traffic is crazy,” she said. “It’s not worth it.”

Brett Steen flew from Oahu to the island of Hawaii with his parents, who were visiting from Florida, on a trip booked months ago. Volcanoes started erupting just before they reached the Big Island.

“It was a bonus on our trip,” Steen said. “We are very excited to be out of here.”

At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said many visitors know about Mauna Loa but don’t know that Kilauea, a smaller volcano, is also erupting – and they can see both from many points near the later crater.

“It hasn’t happened since 1984. It’s a really special time to be here,” said Ferracane.

The number of visitors to the park has not increased since Mauna Loa’s eruption began late Sunday, but she expects it to increase next weekend following a normal seasonal pattern.

Saddle Road, outside the park, may not be a major viewing spot for long. Red hot lava was crawling towards it.

Ken Hon, scientist in charge of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, said the flow had “slowly slowed down” and was 3.3 miles (5.3 km) south of the highway on Thursday. At that rate, he said, it will take at least a week before it arrives.

“We really don’t know which way the lava will end up going,” Hon said.

Congested roads will cause problems, especially for those using it to commute from Hilo and other areas on the east side of the island, where housing is often more affordable, to jobs in the west, where there are many larger beach resorts.

Unless some kind of bypass is built, passengers will need to take coastal routes to and from Kailua-Kona, adding at least an hour’s drive each way.

Steve Solberg, general manager of Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa in Kailua-Kona, said many guests had come to Saddle Road to watch the eruption. Some people canceled reservations at the resort because of the volcano, but others canceled their bookings because they wanted to see the eruption.

“So it’s really a change at this point, but we expect it to be a very positive thing over the next week or so,” Solberg said.

He said that if Saddle Road were to close, about a dozen or so employees living in Hilo would be accommodated at the resort during their five-day workweek so they wouldn’t have to travel long each day.

Governor David Ige issued an emergency declaration to allow responders to arrive quickly or restrict access as needed. The governor said if lava crosses the highway, the Hawaii National Guard can help plan alternatives and attempt to establish bypass routes.

Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. The current eruption is the 34th since written record-keeping began in 1843. Its smaller neighbor, Kilauea, has erupted since from September 2021.

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