Should Hawaii visitors and residents both pay an environmental fee? More questions are back on the table.
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143 thoughts on “Controversial $50 Hawaii Visitor Fee Plan Returns”
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Should Hawaii visitors and residents both pay an environmental fee? More questions are back on the table.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments are closed.
This is all the state knows. They have been feeding off free money forever from the fed government and tourists. How about recruiting different industries? You had 2 years to come up with something and all I hear is taxes and fees and some bs educate the visitor which is nothing more than a money grab usually run by some relative or crony of a politician.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green comment is either virtue signaling to his base or an attempt to payoff his stakeholders, but probably both.
The main benefactors of the Hawaiian $50.00 climate travel fee will be Green’s stakeholders who will provide overpriced services and products related to implementing the programs climate change mandates.
That’s how crony capitalism works.
Ask yourself why after pouring billions of dollars into homelessness has it gotten worse? Answer: Politicians and their stakeholders don’t want to resolve the problem, because they’re making millions off of it.
Amen, Richard, been coming to Hawaii since 1986, use the Nimitz through downtown to Kalakau, through 2006, it was 5X’s a year on Business, the Homeless were living under the bridges at water level as one approached Sand Island., I would pass the same Black Gentleman walking carrying his belongs, just before the Car Dealerships and the turn-off for what was John Dominus. Ditto Kuhio even today, open sores, barefoot around the Foodland. Why is it the Tourist responsibility to underwrite the Homeless and their Shelter, Hawaii’s Unemployment Insurance was one of the most generous in the Nation, yet they are now over $500,000,000 upside down, this while Ige exascerbated the problem having Service and Retail people stay away on the Fed dole!
I don’t see how a fee Can be assessed just for entering the state, but are we not already collecting additional “visitor fees” on hotel/rental accommodations to the amount of nearly 15%? If absolutely necessary, why do we not just simply increase that fee for visitors (locals exempted)?
How about visitors on
Cruise ships?
Great idea!
Don’t expect it to be used for the environment, much less the people.
Our residents should not have to pay the fee because we contribute to protecting our home by doing clean ups and other activities with our community and telling tourists to listen to us when it comes to caring for our home
Hello Erika, cleaning up your yard, house even neighborhood is considered pride of ownership and is its own reward. Urban blight, garbage, junk, and other things that detract from the neighborhood should be a fined offense as it is in most places. Everyone should be assessed equally for the $50 without exception. If it’s about the Island it involves Everyone. If Everyone is paying then possibly Residents will begin to question Where the money actually goes to. It makes you a “true stakeholder” in the outcome.
Erika…then why do I see trashed cars, refrigerators, stoves etc? I don’t think visitors are hauling those over and dumping them.
Erika uses terms like ” us ” and ” them ” in other posts. BTW, Erika , go down to the Ala Wai marina and volunteer to clean it up. Its probably the most polluted water in Hawaii, usually filled with trash and garbage. Yes, “your” residents who live on board the boats in the harbor are the ones polluting the waters and I don’t see ” Your residents ” cleaning it up. ( disclaimer , I have seen some people cleaning the trash out of the marina on a few occasions but for the most part its usually polluted ). I also think the boats dump their ” waste ” directly into the marina as I’ve never seen a pumping boat ever servicing any of the boats there.
I think the fee is a good idea. Allot of states add tourist fees and travelers have no problem paying those. I don’t see why Hawaii should do the same thing. Great idea.
If you are spending the big bucks to visit Paradise (which I have done so since 2010 excluding 2020/Covid) spend another $50.00 for the Universal fee. Enjoy the Islands.
I guess paradise is different to some. The last 30 years hasn’t changed paradise in Hawaii for the good.
The $50 fee that is once again on the table “could” benefit the people in many needed ways. It’s also considered by many that the Money will be diverted for “other” uses as has been the case with other programs, what will be different this time? In the State Budget why isn’t there Funding to build Affordable Housing Projects? Other projects that directly benefit the Residents? They are Needed! This and the Homeless Issue are part of the Lt. Governor’s Job, what is He Doing about Both? Seriously! Answers and Action are Needed Immediately.
I like the idea of implementing a climate impact fee. I grew up on Oahu and have been back several times since I moved away 30 years ago. The tourism industry has both a positive and a negative impact on Hawaii. There definitely needs to be some sort of help to reduce the waste and environmental impact issues that come along with such an industry.
Where would I find how the extremely high short term rental taxes are being spent by the government, including the new Maui County 3% added to each and every reservation?
One specific group should not be penalized, taxed more, be it visitors, specific businesses or sectors. Because the root issue is simply too too many tourists, a well thought through lottery system keeping the body count relatively steady would pose a better solution. Everyone shares in both the gain and the pain.
I would be in favor of any fee that would slow down the number of tourists here on the Big Island. Staffing levels are still not adequate as many people have moved out of the service industry.
My problem with the fee would be: how will it be used? If the fees actually cleaned things up it would be worthwhile, unfortunately, fees tend to find a black hole within the state.
Mahalo for the article gentleman.
I don’t think any visitor fee can be implemented due to freedom of interstate travel. However, if it does pass muster, the fee should be 25.00 not 50.00. Too much!
How to chase all tourism away! Idiots
If that is the only fee charged to visitors then I think it is reasonable. Unfortunately Hawaii usually looks to visitors to cure all it’s financial woes and I feel this would be an extra tax…that would again be mismanaged (Oahu’s train to nowhere comes to mind)
We come to Kauai every year. I hear your concerns about environmental issues, but what about the $$$ spent there.
I would rather pay one fee than be nickled and dimed at each park, beach and attraction.
They are going to have to define “Visitor” then.
1. I’m staying off and on with my brother-in-law several times a year.
2. I’m a business man going to HI several times a year for business only. No vacation.
3. I have a residence in HI and the mainland and go back and forth but live mainly on the mainland.
4. I rent an apartment in HI but travel back and forth to the mainland and have no need for any HI identification documents. I only have my mainland drivers license.
And I suppose it could go on and on.
Very good examples!
Exactly. There are several situations where so called visitors are anything but tourists. Why should a business man who already contributes more to Hawaii in tax revenues than most residents be slammed for an additional entry fee every time he comes to Hawaii?
Another money grab with funds being siphoned off to who knows where (or to whom).
Tourists are paying the hotel room tax, the General Excise Tax and user fees for places for Hanauma Bay and to hike Diamond Head as well fees / taxes on rental cars.
This $50 per person arrival fee, not connected to the airport or airlines, is a charge for interstate commerce; travel between States. I believe this violates the U.S. Constitution.
My personal feeling is that at some point Hawaii will price itself out of what Americans want to pay to visit.
Such a discriminatory tax/fee or whatever you wish to describe it would likely be considered on a challenge to be “discriminatory” state action and likely prohibited under Article I.S8.C3 of the US Constitution.
Jim E
We should do the same here in Arizona. Las Vegas should do the same as well as my home town of Massachusetts. In fact we should charge everyone in a car $50 everytine the cross state lines. Why should only one state do it?
The EU is doing this in 2023
abcnews.go.com/US/us-travelers-face-fee-enter-europe-year/story?id=85925643
I have been to Hawai’i 11 times (pre covid). The last time that I went, I took my son, Daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. The cost of airfares, accommodation, food, etc. was about 14,500 in Canadian dollars (a little over 11,000 US). That was before accommodation taxes were increased as well as visitors fees for Hanauma Bay, Diamond Head, etc. It seems like half the time that I read Beat of Hawai’i somebody is proposing a new fee, tax or restriction for visitors. I can’t speak for other potential visitors, but I find this discouraging. There are a lot of other places in the World where we can go that don’t seem to be putting up barriers to tourists.
This article brings the readers further into the Controversial World of Usage/Entrance Fee’s and possible structure of it. Any Fee’s attached due to “Climate Related Issues” should be levied upon Residents and Tourists alike. Where it becomes more contentious is Who should pay “Usage Fee’s.” Tourists certainly should pay if/when they use, however, should Residents of the State? They probably already do pay and don’t realize it. States typically charge Residents in non obvious ways, Property Owners pay by a hidden fee in their property taxes. There’s also a hidden fee on Vehicle Registration/Plates. A property owner living elsewhere gets double charged if they don’t have in State Registration Vehicles. Fee’s are often dubiously hidden.
Simply, increase occupancy taxes on guests in hotel rooms at resorts, and the like. Such taxes are levied at many locations and are particularly high in venues like New York City.
I’d rather pay a one-time fee upfront on each visit than to get hit with additional non-resident fees at every beach, etc.
We discovered Hawaii late in life, 2007, and have visited many times since. We’ve never had a bad time, loved everything.
Do you wonder why many “visitors” exhibit an attitude of entitlement and treat the islands like an amusement park? Stand by. A “Universal Visitor Fee” will be treated like a day pass to Disneyland and increase visitor expectations.
I fear Hawaii will make the same mistake that the US park Service made with Yosemite in the 1990’s. Now only the financially elite can afford to visit more than a day.
Love your stuff. Keep up the good work.
As a frequent visitor to the Islands over the past 42 years I would have no problem with a $50 per visitor fee. It’s a nothing amount of money to anyone vacationing in Hawaii and if it would help protect Hawaii I believe most travelers would agree. Of course the issue is who would do what with the money and how high could the fee go? Government will screw it up as usual. Also, residents should not pay a fee.
This fee has already been implemented in the form of the TAT (Transient Accommodations Tax) – how many (much) taxes can a government want/need? And where have all the previous tax revenues been spent? The TOT on its own is enough to address the problem so where are the TAT tax revenues being used (allocated, routed) should be the question to be answered. Why is the state of Hawaii grabbing any of this money for general fund purposes? (I found info on this in a 2016 paper available online at uhero.hawaii.edu/RePEc/hae/wpaper/WP_2016-4.pdf ). These funds should be spent on running and maintaining parks, beaches, green spaces, etc – and NOT one dollar sent to the general fund! Bottom line: plenty of revenue is already available.
What a great idea. The fee should be set high enough to keep out the undesirable element.
The money can be used to hire more government workers to enforce the rules and also used to raise salaries and retirement benefits for them. Fifty dollars sounds way too low, but I am sure it can be raised every year.
Return of Rimpac should help
Just a way for greedy Hawaii tourism to get less cheap tourists and more rich ones as they’ve been planning for years!!!
$50pp seems a bit steep!!
I would be really surprised if a universal fee would be constitutional. I think a better approach would be a combination hotel/property tax on anyone who owns property outside Hawaii. Hit the vacation 2nd homes, hotels, etc. Drive the taxes way up so the housing is affordable for natives. Make the Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg, Ellison pay for buying up land in Hawaii and reducing the use for the people who live there.
I see both sides of this story. On one hand it is a great way to raise funds to help the state however, I think charging half would be more appropriate and I do think residents should be exempt. Residents are already paying premium prices for everything on a daily basis.
My guess; if this fee is ever implemented there is zero chance the money goes only to help the environmental impact of tourism. Politicians will quickly find other uses for it that have zero to do with the environment
The Train proposed from Kapolei originally to Honolulu International, now Ala Moana, has been 50+ years in the planning and discussion, with Funding etc.. The existing Tourist Portion of the Room Tax was taken by governor ige in ’21 and placed in the States General Fund, forcing the Counties, predominantly Kauai, Maui and Hawaii to start anew adding to the Room Tax, given they no longer received their shares!
If the $50 dollars will actually go to the proper fund and help preserve the islands, go for it!
No, I don’t think the locals should pay the fee!
$50 will not deter me from visiting Hawaii!
Born yesterday, I wasn’t, so the Hawaiian residents, conceivably have the $50 Fee Deductible, was it assessed per Individual or Family, or was it reflected with a Credit against their State Income Tax, while the Citizens of the 49 States, Citizens of the World, gave same as an add-collect to Air, Hotel, Occ. Tax., Parking, Gratuities, Meals etc., so what happens when Locals go to Las Vegas, is there a $50-$100 Surcharge per Head, A return to the ‘Golden State’ where no State has the offerings they do for 2-3 days or weeks, but Governor’s have taken that off the table for a generation, so too New York, Illinois, seeing a pattern here? Talk to me after I don’t see 4 abandoned cars on my way up the 72/83 to Kahuku and the N Shore!
Hello.
Another great question for thought and debate.
The problem with selectively charging an environmental fee to visitors is that the environment is not in a vacuum. Residents impact the environment also. Also what would determine arrival? Would flying to neighbor islands be arrivals? So flying for an appointment and then returning home later that day would have 2 charges?
It might be better to build it into taxes impacting all, but then that jacks taxes even higher.
It begs the question when does it stop?
As a frequent visitor, usually yearly, I am opposed to this fee. We already pay higher taxes for residing at Hawaii hotels /resorts. We pay plenty in sales taxes while visiting and usually drop a small bundle of money there. We also tip generously, knowing that many Hawaiians depend on service jobs. We appreciate the hospitality of the residents and truly love the beautiful paradise of Hawaii. Would the extra fee keep us away? I don’t think it would. But it seems like visitors are perhaps being nickeled and dimed to death and not appreciated. It also seems unfair to ask residents to pay a fee when they leave the islands. Unless the goal of the Hawaiian government is to keep visitors away, I don’t think the extra fee is a good idea.
A small price to pay if the money actually goes to preserve and protect the natural beauty of the islands. Usually tho, such fees, (taxes), are ultimately diverted to general fund expenses and programs which negate the original purpose. $50 a visit or year if you’re a resident? Not a problem.