Hawai‘i Tourism Authority on Ballistic Missile False Alarm

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority President and CEO George D. Szigeti issued the following statement commenting on the false alert about an inbound missile coming to Hawai‘i that was mistakenly issued by the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency:

“This morning’s false alert was regrettable and completely avoidable. There was no reason for the alert to be issued and the public needs to know that it was simply a mistake caused by human error. Our governor and the director of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency have made strong public assurances that this type of mistake will never happen again, and we should all take that to heart.

“Already, procedures have been improved to ensure that an error of this magnitude is not repeated. The health and welfare of our residents and visitors is always the State of Hawai‘i’s top priority and no agency takes that responsibility more seriously than the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency.

“We have been in contact with our tourism stakeholders to inform them of today’s false alert and reassure them that Hawai‘i’s safety and security is unaffected by today’s unfortunate incident. There is no cause for travelers with trips already booked to Hawai‘i or considering a vacation in the islands to change their plans. Hawai‘i continues to be the safest, cleanest and most welcoming travel destination in the world and the alarm created today by the false alert does not change that at all.”