Many tourists heeded the calls of Hawaii’s governor to put off trips to the islands. Now, locals are wondering what the coming months will bring.

Since Gov. David Ige asked tourists and residents to “reduce travel to Hawaii to essential business activities only” nearly four weeks ago, preliminary data published by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism shows passenger counts for the most recent week are down about 30% compared with the week leading up to the Aug. 23 announcement.

Hawaii’s...

Many tourists heeded the calls of Hawaii’s governor to put off trips to the islands. Now, locals are wondering what the coming months will bring.

Since Gov. David Ige asked tourists and residents to “reduce travel to Hawaii to essential business activities only” nearly four weeks ago, preliminary data published by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism shows passenger counts for the most recent week are down about 30% compared with the week leading up to the Aug. 23 announcement.

Hawaii’s biggest industry now finds itself again delicately balancing public health and employment concerns. Mr. Ige has called for travelers to postpone any trips through the end of October. Those still hoping to visit Hawaii at year’s end are watching closely.

“It’s a marked slowdown for Hawaii,” says Kristi Emo, owner of Your Dream Escapes Travel, based in Fresno, Calif.

Hotels are seeing cancellations every day, and future bookings are slowing, says Mufi Hannemann, the former mayor of Honolulu and current president and chief executive of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. While hotel occupancy averaged between 75% and 80% over the summer, it has now dropped below 50%, he says.

Mr. Hannemann says this year’s drop is steeper than the traditional post-Labor Day decline. Some properties are reporting under 40% occupancy, he says. Typically, shoulder season occupancy is between 60% and 70%, he says.

Mr. Hanneman says he hopes state authorities revisit how long to discourage the flow of visitors. He fears travelers might cancel or postpone November or December bookings if the original announcement to postpone trips through the end of October, as the governor suggested, stays in place. “Those were looked upon as strong months for us to kick off winter-season travel,” he says.

Hawaii’s Covid-19 cases have declined in September, while hospitalizations remain relatively flat. The state has averaged about 587 new cases a day over the past week, a decline from about 895 new cases a day two weeks prior, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The Covid-19 infection rates in Hawaii are primarily due to community transmission, Janice Okubo, communications director for the Hawaii Department of Health, said in an email. In late August, officials also pointed to residents flying to hot spot areas and bringing the virus back to Hawaii.

Certain counties have implemented new restrictions for visitors and locals alike. On Monday, Oahu began its Safe Access Oahu program, which requires people to show proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test taken within 48 hours to enter restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor establishments. Maui implemented similar measures on Wednesday. The county is also further limiting capacity on commercial tours to better promote social distancing.

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Hawaii’s hospitality workers have felt the pain of a Covid-19 slowdown before. A 2020 rule that required travelers to quarantine essentially shut down the state’s tourism industry. It had a 14.1% seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July 2020, which fell to 7.3% in July 2021, the same month Hawaii saw visitation near pre-pandemic levels.

Bryant de Venecia, a communications organizer for Unite Here Local 5, a union that represents hospitality workers, says many are seeing reduced hours or have found that they are now on call rather than regularly scheduled. Mr. de Venecia says many hotels aren’t doing daily room cleanings, which leaves fewer shifts open to workers, and some departments, such as valet or food and banquet, aren’t open yet.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Ige didn’t return requests for comment. The Hawaii governor said on a live stream with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday there wouldn’t be another shutdown in the state because of the high vaccination rate.

Some locals have accepted the slowdown and new restrictions as a practical measure. In recent weeks, some Hawaiians have taken to social media, including the Maui Bound Facebook group, to discourage travelers from visiting now.

Travel advisers like Ms. Emo say some clients, especially those without trip insurance, are still traveling to the islands. But they have seen other clients postpone their trips until 2022 in the hopes that case numbers improve.

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Rachel Costa, 35 years old, and her husband initially planned to travel to Hawaii from Portland, Ore., in May 2020. The couple received refunds for their bookings at the time, and, after they were vaccinated this spring, decided to rebook for September. Ms. Costa says she watched hospitalizations rise in the state over the summer and ultimately decided to call off the trip after the governor’s announcement. “If we were to go hiking and I hurt my ankle or something, that would be more pressure on a hospital system that’s really overtaxed,” she says.

Ms. Costa says they lost about $1,500 on a nonrefundable condo booking, and that she sympathizes with hard-hit small-business owners. The couple now plans to travel next May. “We tried to do our best to reschedule rather than cancel,” she says.

Write to Allison Pohle at Allison.Pohle@wsj.com