In a world upended following Covid, just where is the Aloha in Hawaii?
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72 thoughts on “Aloha On The Endangered List: Hawaii Gone Wrong”
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In a world upended following Covid, just where is the Aloha in Hawaii?
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments are closed.
Damned if we do, damned if we don’t. Protesting against tourists started after covid. Now the prices are ridiculous and we’re not assured our room will be available if we come. We’re told not to come or to come and on top of price gouging we’re told to spend our money, tip generously and be respectful. I really can’t imagine disresprectful to anyone there, let alone fire survivors. So many of us have sent $$$, adopted families, fulfilled Amazon wishes, etc. Stop treating us like we’re the cause of all the problems. I am a long time visitor and love Maui and her people. I hope to visit soon.
As a native born Hawaiian, now residing in Wyoming, I just don’t know how the State can prevent me from returning home for my annual 6 week visit with family and friends. Property owners from Kaanapali north should not be restricted. We are not tourists per day. We don’t “need” to visit Lahaina. We have spent thousands of hours there and enjoyed every second of it. But it’s not to be confused with our need to return home to Maui.
I disagree with most of what this article is saying. I’m from California and have been visiting Maui for almost a decade (both pre and post COVID) and not only do I have a deep respect for the culture, but also experience a reciprocal aloha feeling from other tourists I encounter as well as the locals. Sure, there are some bad apples out there and unfortunately they do ruin it for the rest of us, but they represent the minority, not the majority. I will also say that airlines such as Alaska Airlines have done a Great job of educating people and posting educational videos on their in flight entertainment and encouraging people via email campaigns and other marketing to “give back” by volunteering their time to a local charity while on vacation.
I plan on doing local things in Maui and giving aloha on my trip in August.
I can’t speak for other countries, but the US has become more angry, entitled, and divided over the years. This started before COVID, but I think that the pandemic made it worse. We see this in the number of flight attendants that are assaulted, as well as the rude, entitled, and “the rules apply to someone else” behavior that we see from too many tourists. Add to that some of the Hawaii residents who for a long time have disliked having visitors and it’s a volatile combination. Finally, as we can even see from some of the comments, the other 800 lbs gorilla in the room is the dislike some multi-generational Hawaiians have for more recent residents. Mix it all together, and, well, I can see how some would say that Aloha is dying.
Aloha, After living in HI & now on the mainland, I am so thankful of your HI info. I visited HI in 1970 & annually until 1995 when 3 young kids made the 4 hr time diff. rough.When my daughter family moved to HI in 2009 I visited 1 or more x/ yr. When we 1st visited it was so much less developed, fewer roads, & tourists. Yet Hi still has aloha, beauty & charm. When someone is going to visit for the 1st time I give them my formula for magic in HI.
Keep the radio/internet tuned to Hawaiian music or make a long diverse playlist. Wear a lei preferably fragrant; take time to smell the flowers along your paths. Lilting Hawaiian language, no translation woes, US $$ use, & awesome beauty make this the easiest exotic trip you can ever take. Mahalo
Ha! Locals would be sooooooo upset if Las Vegas (a/k/a Lost Wages) taxed them to death, nor wanted them.. oooh lala!
There’s a lot of problems in Hawaii with tourism and the one of the problems is that visitors when they come….they need to have respect of Hawaii as if they were visting Grandma’s house!!!! or anyone’s house! They need to be friendly, respectful, clean and treat people with respect! You need to treat people as if they were your grandparents! You receive what you project and what you give! Yes…HVCB did a horrible job marketing Hawaii….they had no RESPECT for Hawaii’s culture, Hawaii’s people and Hawaii’s Flora and Fauna! Shame on them! So….let’s change this…..starting with respect, kindness and patience! Don’t act all entitled because you are a visitor!
Local or kamaaina is generally understood by those who are local or kamaaina to mean multi-generational settler. If you weren’t born and raised here for generations, you’re neither local nor kamaaina. You’re malihini or haole. Second, aloha is only one ike Hawaii. It has dominated the visitor-driven narrative of keia pae aina. I’m not super aloha, especially to those with whom I do not share a close relationship. I place far greater emphasis on olelo Hawaii, ike Hawaii, aina, than I do aloha. Also, those of us not connected to tourism do not have a neutral attitude towards tourists. I see tourists as direct competitors to our limited resources and rural infrastructure.
When IZ was alive we always loved seeing his shows. From IZ, you always got music and a lecture on politics. How he felt about Aloha and what it was are two very different animals. How native Polynesians and the rest of the people who live in Hawaii feel about aloha cannot be put in the same bottle.
Aloha LOL.
Aloha is something everyone should give to everyone else. Sometime it seems like there is an animosity built up between locals and tourists, that didn’t used to be there. Both groups need to put on their “Big Boy Pants” and start treating each other with the respect and courtesy they used to show. It isn’t asking too much from any of us!
Since spending our honeymoon on the Big Island, we have visited Hawaii at least once a year (usually more) for the past 30+ years and currently have a daughter who lives and works on Kauai, it’s fairly obvious what the real issue is: “we have met the enemy and he is us” (Thanks! Pogo…). In essence, Hawaii is in the midst of the ‘perfect storm’, i.e., 1) entitled locals vs entitled visitors mentality; 2) corporate greed from the big hotel chains, rental car companies, etc; and 3) totally inept politicians who try to please everyone and please no one. It truly breaks my heart to see the ‘Aloha spirit’ on life support… but we have no one to blame but ourselves – if true Aloha was still practiced, we wouldn’t be having these discussions…
Entry fee for visitors is a great plan that needs some refinement. I’ve read here Hawaii is not Disneyland. I say why not? $50 is not enough, crank it up just like Disneyland, and charge by the day or sell multi day entry. Provide a deal on island hopper tickets so vistors are encouraged to move around the state and keep moving. Pay any resident who is willing to role play.
Disneyland is a horrible inconvenience for local residents, but it is worth it, and, I’ve never heard a sensible adult express a desire to move to Disneyland. Visitors will come, and you may lose some of those old nasty ones who return every year and have staked some kind of weird claim
I agree with most of the comments that “you get what you give”. My last trip to Hawaii was pre-covid, and I even noticed this then. Our first day, we went to a local diner, and the waitress told me I was the first person that had said “Thank You” to her since her shift had started 6 hrs previously. She actually insisted my friend let me out of our booth so that she could hug me.
A little respect goes both ways.
Thank you BOH for all of your articles. Planning another trip to the Big Island in March, so maybe can update what I see post-covid