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39 thoughts on “Governor Says “Move Hawaii Beyond Tourism””

  1. I’m new to Hawaii, only been hear 8months..I drive people through shuttle service..All I can say that I’m all in for affordable housing..If you dont get a grip on it,, this great state will loose big time..You will have less people working and that will become a huge problem.

  2. So is being a tourist bad? I’m confused. I love visiting Hawaii. I would move there if I could. And not just the touristy places. I love the land. The culture. They don’t want visitors now?

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  3. I am wondering if he will consider allowing a State Lotto. Instead of raising taxes on the residents and charging a fee to visitors.

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  4. Here’s a valuable website where you can see the data of tourist numbers, domestic and international. dbedt.hawaii.gov/visitor/daily-passenger-counts/
    Also, Hawaii has a law that states if the budget has a 5% surplus, excess must be returned to the taxpayers. In September 2022, my husband and I received $600 back from the state. Hawaii is on solid financial footing, at least for now.

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  5. We watched this happen on beautiful Puerto Rico for years. Island economy first developed under the tourism umbrella. Being in a militarily significant area, the military presence grew over decades adding jobs. Searching for more sources of revenue, PR attracted businesses, and wealthy entrepreneurs, with tax breaks. One such industry was big pharma. But all of that new revenue could not forever offset bad government, labor unions, corruption, and local disenchantment with “visitors”. Soon PR forced out most of the huge military presence, caused Congress to eliminate tax breaks causing biz closures, and have difficulty recovering from natural disasters that hit. This book has already been written. HI government should read it.

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  6. Hawaii is an island. The so called Golden Goose has to be managed. We do not have the room Las Vegas or Orlando does for mass tourism. Allowing us to become a tropical Las Vegas strip will destroy Hawaii and simply profit a few large business conglomerates and create a huge degradation of the quality of life for those that live here. Don’t know how, but diversification is the key to Hawaii’s future. Investment in education would be a good start.

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  7. What about banning nonresidential cartrafic at “road to hana” and similar places? and banning cars in national parks. People can walk,ride a bike or take a bus.

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