Hawaii hotels prepared for the worst during tsunami watch

Hawaii's visitor industry spent most of this morning prepping for a possible tsunami, but the scare ended by mid-morning with many tourists taking no notice of the commotion.

"We've been all on alert and communicating on a regular basis since first thing this morning," said state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert. "All island visitor bureaus checked in with Civil Defense and every hotel property in the state was readying their individual plans."

The tsunami watch was downgraded to an advisory so promptly that there was virtually no reaction from Hawaii's visitors, Wienert said. "We didn't get any calls," she said.

While there was no panic on Kauai, where the tsunami would have hit first, phones were ringing off the hook, said Sue Kanoho, Kauai Visitors Bureau director.

"The calls were mostly hotel security checking in," Kanoho said. "We keep them informed as we get the latest news from civil defense."

Hawaii's hotels were ready to evacuate if a tsunami had hit, Wienert said. "Typically they would evacuate vertically by simply moving higher within their own properties," she said.