HONOLULU -- Waikiki Beach is usually towel-to-towel with tourists by 10:00 on any given morning -- but not anymore.

Witness Tuesday. The beach is relatively empty (pictured, right) as an armed Coast Guard cutter patrols in the distance. Beach concessions that regularly bring in $30,000 a month renting surfboards and beach chairs say that their business is down by at least 50 percent.

"We think we can survive this weekend as far as our employees are concerned," says Tom Copp of Palekaiko Beachboys Club. "But next week will be another question."

All over Waikiki, from hotels to hot dog stands, it's the same story -- a dramatic drop in customers is leading to reduced hours for employees.

"Usually by now, we have about 80 customers and right now we have only 30," Brad Young of the Hyatt Snack Shack says.

Upscale shops such as Gucci, which is popular with Japanese visitors, are empty. Free trolleys to shopping areas drive by with just a few passengers.

At Honolulu Airport, bus drivers and porters say business is way down, especially since nearly all stranded passengers have been able to go home. Of the nine Japan Airlines flights that arrived in Honolulu Tuesday, only one was full.

"It's time to make some time to look for another job right now," skycap Asu Seiuli says. "It's too slow right now."