After a swift downturn following the September 11, 2001 terror strikes on US targets, tourism authorities slowly coaxed visitors back. The market was not yet strong, but it was standing.

Then came the possibility of war. Reeling but still on its feet, the industry prepared a crisis plan, only to be pummeled again by SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that is wreaking havoc in Asia.

Visitors to China have started carrying the pneumonia home to Hawaii along with their postcards of the Great Wall, striking terror in the hearts of tour operators.

Japan Airlines announced last week it was cutting two daily flights to Hawaii, which lies between Asia and the US mainland and which serves as a seductive halfway house for trans-Pacific travellers as well as sun seekers.

With the cut in flights of Japan Airlines at least until April, approximately 800 Hawaii-bound seats a day are being lost.

With five suspected cases of SARS now reported in the island state, and the possibility of a sixth on the main island of Kauai, Hawaii's economy is now on its knees.

"We're tracking tourist arrivals daily," said Frank Haas, Director of Tourism and Marketing with the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). "Japanese arrivals dropped 23 to 25 percent over the weekend."

While mainland US and Canadian travelers are still coming to Hawaii instead of traveling further from home, Japanese tourists simply will not vacation to a country at war.

"There are many reasons," said Haas. "It is seen as impolite. And they don't want to get stranded here."

A spokesperson for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts said that advance Japanese booking for the Hawaii-based inns for April had come to a grinding halt.

Current statistics in Hawaii show that Big Island and Kauai are reporting the biggest declines in arrivals and hotel occupancy.

However, officials on the island of Maui are now considering launching a financial aid program for employee layoffs, especially tourism workers, as the industry is impacted by war and SARS.

Authorities cite the plunging number of calls for travel reservations and information, a bad omen for coming months.

Tourism officials are scrambling to find ways to entice visitors, but no single plan seems to be gaining ground.

A tourism authority scheme to send a small contingent of delegates to Japan to let people know Hawaii welcomes visitors during the war is coming under fire from the state's legislature.

Hawaii Senate Tourism Committee Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim said a similar marketing plan after September 11 was not well received in Japan.

Sheila Smith, a scholar of US-Japan security relations at the East-West Center here said in a study published last month that "There will be no support (from Japanese travelers) when it comes to tourism to Hawaii.

"If there is a war, no Japanese tourists."

Other ideas include encouraging travel writers to write about the state, and launching marketing programs with airlines,

But no game plan will be effective if the war continues to rage or if SARS continues to spread, travel industry sources warned.

Hope now is that the war will quickly be over and does not carry over into the northern summer, the busiest time of year for vacation travel to these idyllic islands.

Hawaii's air industry is in tatters following Septemter 11 and the global economic slump.

Interisland Hawaiian Airlines has declared bankruptcy and other local carriers are threatening the same, as the bad news trickles down to car rental agencies, hotels, tour firms, taxis, restaurants and other businesses that depend on tourism.

For now, the industry is just holding on, taking the eight count, biding time.

"We dont know what is next," lamented Haas.

SPACE.WIRE