Kauai is telling visitors to stay away for now, a short-term hit to the island's tourism economy but a deliberate one meant to speed up recovery.

• Hurricane Lowell tore through Kauai three days ago, leaving much of the island without power and infrastructure in need of rebuilding.
• Tourism officials are steering travelers to other Hawaiian islands until Kauai is ready.
• Hotel rooms are filled with first responders and outside repair crews, so there is little space for visitors anyway.
• Kauai normally draws more than 100,000 visitors a month, and both visitor counts and spending were up this year before the storm.
• The playbook comes from the 2023 Lahaina fire, when Maui's visitor numbers were cut in half and took ten months to recover.

Outlook: State and county leaders plan to hold off on marketing Kauai until power and basic services are restored, then push to bring travelers back.