Hawaii Tour Operator Lays Off 50 Workers

Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, a Westlake Village-based operator of tours to Hawaii, has temporarily laid off about 50 people because of slumping consumer travel.

The temporary layoffs last week amounted to about 2% of Pleasant Hawaiian’s total work force of 2,500, company spokesman Ken Phillips said. Employees involved in handling reservations and documenting bookings were among those affected, he said.

“We’re just not seeing future bookings to the extent we have in years past,” said Phillips, adding that business is down about 20% from a year earlier. Pleasant Hawaiian, a privately held concern, annually sends nearly 300,000 people to Hawaii.

Airline traffic and other travel is down because of the weak economy, the war in the Persian Gulf and low consumer confidence, Phillips said. “We fully intend to bring as many of these people back as we can as soon as business conditions turn around,” he said.