After the panic and confusion of the weekend’s false missile alert across Hawaii, tourism leaders are hopeful the embarrassing incident will not impact tourism.
"The 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," said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawai’i Tourism Authority.
"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 Hawaii’s top priority,"
A worker activated a live alert of a real missile launch in error instead of the usual monthly test message, sparking panic.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission was understandably irked and promises swift action to prevent any repeat.
The FCC was most annoyed that there was no swift override system in place to cancel the alert. It took 38 minutes before it became clear it was a false alarm and calm was restored.
"The false emergency alert in Hawaii was absolutely unacceptable. It caused a wave of panic across the state. Moreover, false alerts undermine public confidence in the alerting system and thus reduce their effectiveness during real emergencies," said FCC chairman Ajit Pai.
