Complex interplay of proposals reflects the ongoing challenges in Hawaii’s visitor, economic, and housing landscapes.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Complex interplay of proposals reflects the ongoing challenges in Hawaii’s visitor, economic, and housing landscapes.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Want to see foolish politics that are steered by the hotel industry? Head to Hawaii for a great example. Aloha?? How about No-loha!
Have fun meeting your new taxes ‘locals’. The ignorance abounds like Aloha used to.
Thank you for this article! i am one w/naive ignorance W/tourism. Raised to nurture the lands, learn the history of people and places in the world, especially where I plan to travel. SO that is what I did and Hawaii was a huge long deep study. When I read rude Maui social media posts about visitors negatively impacting residents’ quality of life and all the behavioral issues, I just thought, no way. It is just the locals pushing us away. I have never witnessed it. MY sincere Apologies , as reading the above article, it appears to be world-wide. I am appalled that people do not raise children with love, having babies with no responsibilty. Please raise your kids with respect and education. Parents You Are Ruining This World!
My wife and I were married in Hawaii at Ft. Derussy and have returned 14 times since to enjoy the islands. We have been to the 4 major islands many times and like to stay for a month each time so we are not rushed. We were there this past June and July (2023) for what is likely our last trip there. We were stunned by the increase in prices at hotels, restaurants, trips and transfer fees since our last visit in 2021. It was obvious the locals did not want us there in many cases. We want to continue to travel but will likely find other places to spend our money in the future. Keep your islands, Hawaiians, and we will keep our money. Bet we’ll come out better. Aloha!
Have to agree with you 100%. This world is bigger than Hawaii.
You think locals own those hotels and other establishments??
You are exactly right. The employees at many of the hotels treat tourists horribly and then expect a tip. Ignorance is the largest issue facing locals. Not STR problems. They enjoyed the island during the pandemic while STR owners continued to pay higher taxes for the privilege of renting when told they cant. Now tourism tries to come back and they are unhapoy. Who do they think keep the local property owners taxes down? Tourisim is all they have? Don’t like it? Start planting pineapples.
Check out the bio-diesel sunflower farm (just went to their annual music festival in Wailuku), banana, coffee and chocolate plantations, lavender farm in Kula and the goat farm (taste the cheese!), the agricultural fest etc. You probably wouldn’t know about these, if you stayed at a timeshare in West Maui….and yes, we do have nurses, Dr’s, teachers etc. Not sure where you are coming from or what source of income, but tourism isn’t everything!
I don’t know how often this is noted: Hawaii supports a population of “N’ people with the economy it has….largely based on tourism. Right now, unlike a place like Singapore or many cities in the world, it has little else to export or ways to earn money. If the dollars coming in via tourism reduce, the number of people who could still earn a living here would become drastically lower, causing a large exodus of people, presumably to the mainland. One would imagine house values would reduce a lot too.. This vision may very well be desired by many, but would upset many others as well.
Not a novel concept and it has happened all over the U.S. and other places before.
Hi guys — We stay in a condo in Kihei, so I have been interested in following the Charley Young Beach Cam. Last week, alarmingly, the surf was coming into the very back of the beach, hurtling over the rocks inland. Yesterday, I saw a story on Maui TV showing incredible erosion all up and down the shore and down into Wailea. It seems very serious. Yet, where is your coverage of that issue? “Beaches” are iconic. And the loss of beaches is even more important than airline issues…
to that end,even the beach in front of the Westin timeshare is gone… I was just there and 1 wave took everything in sight. I was able to rescue my sandals, but my towel is now in the ocean and my phone got wet and is now inoperabe. One more reasonto ban plastic near the ocean. Be mindful.
I agree with the article the infrastructure needs to addressed. The road to my business on the big island took literally decades to get repaved, cars were constantly getting damaged just driving down the road. When it was finally started last year, it has taken months to complete (still not done) and what they have done, they did not do a very good job. I think it is hard for tourists to care when residents, especially the government don’t seem to.
Having just returned and planning another trip in May. I will tell you IMHO Infrastructure is the buzzword they should be heeding! Broken water mains, potholed (foxholed?) streets, overgrown medians, missing signs, broken sidewalks, electrical issues, cracked overpasses, airport repairs, major tunnels being closed on an emergency basis…
The list is pages long… Waikiki Has been cleaned up a bit, the Police Substation restroom now has an overnight security guard (seems to be anyway) and it’s obvious they had just done a sweep of the homeless folks who moved farther towards downtown but it was the fewest I’ve seen in Waiks for quite a while…
Best Regards
I understand the issue with bad tourists! I’ve seen them and hope they face the consequences for their actions, no matter where they are! When my wife and I go somewhere, we spend a day volunteering somewhere-helping the locals. We like to eat and shop at locally owned places. I also feel that you must respect the local culture. Last time we were in Hawaii we volunteered and the person in charge clearly did not like outsiders and made a number of comments. When I look at current prices for fees and parking, to name a couple things, we have cancelled our upcoming trip and will go elsewhere. Hopefully someday tourists will be welcome again, but I don’t think that will be anytime soon.
Instead of complaining about tourists, welcome and encourage them to give a few hours or a day of volunteer time to a needy project, and make them well known at every hotel, timeshare, and rental, and make it easy to sign up for, so you don’t feel like you need a course in contract law to give of your time.
As for fees, a very open and transparent accounting system must be in place so that everyone knows how much money was collected and exactly where it was spent. If this isn’t done, then there will be no trust.
Aloha, one of the best deals in Hawaii for lodging is timeshares. You can currently buy units on the resale market for way less than one week in an oceanfront resort. There are Amazing deals available.
Mahalo Randy
If only the annual maintenance fees weren’t so expensive and didn’t increase yearly.
timeshare are the worst “investment”(?) anyone can make. One of my clients couldnt sell his, so he just returnded them at a huge loss and he is not the only one.
We’re Hilton Grand vacation club members and I agree with you. At least with Hilton, you can stay at any of their properties around the world. Planning on going to Scotland next year through them. Our timeshare had already almost paid for itself…..
I lived in Hawaii for 14 years, 6 years on Oahu and 8 years on Kauai. I went back for a visit in December and was sadden to see how much higher the cost was for everything, taxes and fees specifically directed at visitors, poor service because companies can’t find people that want to work, and how run down everything has gotten since Covid. It’s pretty obvious that Josh Green and the county Mayors don’t want tourists because they keep imposing more fees on visitors and taxes on visitors and owners of STRs.
Green & the Mayor will get their wish, I’ll find somewhere closer to where I currently live to spend my disposable income, and where I will feel welcome by the locals. Aloha Hawaii. 🙁
Don’t want to work? Please, stop with that. Kauai’s unemployment rate was 2.3%, lots of people are working.
The 2.3% figure you are quoting is based on unemployment claims. There are many, many people who are not collecting unemployment and are not working.
We have traveled a lot the last few years world wide, Hawaii is not the only pricey place.
In London last May I was shocked at prices! In Spain, Ireland. New Jersey and New York! Florida is bargain.
We go to Hawaii every year , 1st time 1970,honeymoon there in 2974 and have been coming ever since! Very lucky!
Where we live prices have escalated drastically! I live in the south!!!
I used to live on Oahu and now I return to the islands each year for one to two months. I don’t like time shares so I stay in short term rentals on various parts of each island to limit driving back and forth across the islands. It sounds like the proposed changes will exclude visitors like me in favor of high end time share visitors. Having once lived in Hawaii I feel like I am much more in tune with protecting the land and the sea then the wealthy visitors who stay in time shares. I will be very sad not to return to the Hawaii that I love.
That is very sad, Ann. I agree with you and think most locals would agree that you would be a welcome visitor vs most timeshare owners in big resorts who generally don’t care about local culture. They just didn’t think it through ….you might want to write directly to Josh Green or Mayor Bissen. Mahalo and hope you will be back!
We own a time share because we have family and my husband was born here. Not all time share owners stay in the resort areas, and many are frequent visitors, like us, who care the culture and customs.
But you do realize that you are the exception to the rule?
I live on Maui and I support respectful vistors. What is disrespectful:
*Attempting to get free meals meant for displaced residents.
*Attempting to get into the historic Lahaina district to take photos.
* Attempting to walk to Baby Beach, which is still closed to everyone, including residents.
*Abusing the restaurant hostess to bully your way to a table ahead of people with reservations.
*Stopping on the highway to make an illegal U-Turn.
More disrespectful behaviors from visitors:
*Pulling off the highway to take photos of people’s burned homes.
*Asking me in Safeway whether I lost my home? Pushing for details of what happened on August 8th.
*Cutting in line at the supermarket and acting like they didn’t know there was a line.
*Tossing lit cigarette butts out of their rental car windows.
*Parking in no parking areas, because they think they’re bettwer than everyone else.
I agree with most of it, but I have seen plenty of locals park in no parking zones, toss out lit cigarette butts (+more) out of their trucks etc. Also, if someone ask if you lost your home, it might be of general concern and empathy. It all depends on the situation. Regarding pictures, although I have taken none of burnt houses, I would not assume that they are taking those for pleasure. Many tourists have come to Lahaina for 20 years and are devastated by what happened. Also, some tourists are ignorant and still ask about Lahaina and if you don’t want tourists, wouldn’t it be good to show that there is no reason to travel there?
We have been visiting Kauai for 25 years. We spent the month of August 2023 on the island in a VRBO. The owner gave us a wonderful deal for a month rental. But the costs on the island have made it unlikely that we can afford to return. We will be looking to vacation closer to home and dreaming about the beauty of Kauai and it’s people. Mary D., Liberty Hill TX
Oh my Hawaii. Oh my. Good luck
Couple of things adding to the decline of paradise, is how they’ve let the homeless situation run rampant. Lots of restrictions on vacation visitors but never a solution for the filth they’ve allowed in Waikiki. Then the rail has sucked out every extra dollar they’ve had for decades.
“…that would generate $68 million annually for beach preservation and fire prevention.” I can see a tourist “fee” to help pay for beach preservation and facilities but for fire prevention? Isn’t that what property taxes are for?
I come away from all I read recently, feeling like I’m not wanted as a visitor. And then I face Airbnb cleaning fees, new taxes, exhorbitant car rentals, angry locals. Thanks for the memories Hawaii, reckon there are tons of other destinations without these issues. Hope you thrive going back to an economy based on sugar cane and poi.
There is a major reach when trying to equate high value with high taxes.
High value efforts should include improving road and beach infrastructure, not nickel and diming tourists with more taxes an fees.
Simply calling a new fee a ‘green tax’ doesn’t benefit Hawaii’s biodiversity or ecosystem.
More important than only imposing reasonable fees on visitors to Hawaii is tourism policy change. Protecting natural ecosystems and Indigenous cultural integrity? Vital. But no state can benefit more from policy that openly links tourism to climate change. Climate action calls for fewer rental cars, for diversity, equality, the use of locally renewable resources — foods, heritage architecture and interpretation. An openly stated climate action framework also serves Hawaii’s prized West Coast markets that constitute America’s most climate aware populations. See Public Policy Institute of California, Climate Change 7/18; CalMatters Climate Change 11/14/23; oregonvbc.org/climate-change/ and The Seattle Times Environment 4/22/22.
Great article. Very informative. Thank you.
Hi Eva.
Thanks for saying that. We appreciate your 300 comments to date!
Aloha.
I have been visiting Hawaii since 1967. I fell in love with the islands and the people and came back whenever I could. Came almost every other year with my husband and we visited all the major islands. After he passed, I’ve come to Maui every year with friends or family. I’ve also watched the changes that have taken place. Honolulu is now just a big city and a high level shopping mall. Daily resort fees are getting to be rediculous. Prices are out of sight. Restaurants serve high end meals are charging enormous fees. I’ve done almost all of the activities I’ve wanted to do, so now I just rent a condo and enjoy the weather and beauty of the island. I liked the Hawaiian atmosphere that was in the past.
I have been a repeat Hawaii visitor for over 50 years including taking post graduate classes at the University. The elected leaders of the state and the counties have encouraged and permitted the over growth of hotels & timeshares. Look at the Hilton Hawaiian Village or the Disney resort. Has anyone questioned who may have personally benefited from allowing all the developments? Where does all the tax money go that is collected? Mentioned was made of beach facilities, they really need addressed as do roads. An in depth audit of the state is required. Being blamed as a tourist for all the problems is getting old. I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Hawaii a thank you might be nice.
I think, we as residents, need to make sure this “$25 Green fee” and/or raise in the accommodation tax will have an annual public accounting of where these fees and taxes are being spent~if they fail to comply, all elected officials forfeit their pay, per diem and benefits for that year, something harsh and strict to ensure the money collected is used for exactly what they are proposing. Also, locals should be exempt from accommodation taxes when doing a staycation.
There should definitely be accountability for how the money is being spent.
I don’t understand the reason for locals being exempt from resort taxes though, when locals or anyone else is staying at a resort isn’t it contributing to the issue that the taxes supposedly exist to address such as additional stress on the infrastructure (especially if you are visiting another island).
Also… a side note regarding staycations, if a local or anyone else is anti tourism or feels strongly that resorts and tourism are bad for Hawaii, why support that resort and the tourism economy by staying there?
I would be happy to pay a $25 fee for improved Hawaii infrastructure and beach restoration. However, I suspect the fees will go to line the pockets of politicians and their pet projects. A case in point is our recent gas tax increase here in California(it’s now up to 58 cents a gallon) which was to go for infrastructure improvements. Unfortunately, the roads are getting worse and tons of litter mar our landscapes. Where did this money go?
To keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is unrealistic.
Thats very interesting to see what is occurring elsewhere due to overtourism and what is being done to counteract and control it. I’m glad Hawaii is planning to do “something” since I would hate to see Hawaii become paradise lost!
Thanks BOH for the information you provide on a very special place I love and respect.
Hi Holly.
Thanks. We appreciate your first comment and hope to see you again. We too found it interesting to research what’s happening in other global destinations that, like Hawaii, are in great demand.
Aloha.
Prague, Czech Republic has the right solution, Welcome the tourists, they are very proud of the city and they just go with the influx of tourists they go about everyday life by adjusting their time for shopping and traveling early in the day or later in evenings when the tourist crowds are sleeping. I no longer enjoy Hawaii they are all about bad wrapping tourists and money wonder how they would feel if lower 48 treated them the same way ?? I have traveled to Hawaii over many years not on my list any longer. I like to feel joy on my trips and welcomed!!!
Too many people, not enough space.
We’re like rats in a maze.
I’m wondering what’s going to happen to all these second homes that the boomer snowbirds have once they start dying off. Are they gonna hand em down or sell them to people who want to make Hawaii their permanent home. Or will their families try to convert them to STRs. Time will tell how that all shakes out.
The problem of excessive tourism, over crowding, over pricing in Paradise is caused by the word’s over expanding and Increasing World Population. I fear that no amount of blame and exercising solutions will solve the ever expanding human population on earth. I fear it is the new reality we all must face!
I’m all for limiting the tourism so the islands stay healthy. In Lake Tahoe, tens of thousands arrive for holiday weekends (4th of July) and just trash the area and the Lake. We are fortunate volunteer groups clean up after they leave. But the volunteers are becoming less and less each year. Fed up with tourists.
I’ve been living on BI half time for the last 6 years.
Prices of everything have gone up a lot during that time, especially since covid lockdowns started. Having a condo(in resort zone) and a beater car, keeps my costs way down compared to what short term tourists would pay.
There is a dynamic where because prices are too high people can’t really afford long stays, so they pack as much stuff as they can into a short stay. They lose any chance to relax because they are paying 500$ day for car-room-meals. How are you going to appreciate the local issues when you feel the drip drip of big costs. I see a Hawaii with a bunch of retired 401K millionaires and trust-funders and not much working class.
We have been coming to the island for many years now. We come for two weeks twice a year. We spend a great deal of money. We respect the island and the people. But I’m not sure how much longer with the raising cost. I hope it doesn’t come to that but when is too much enough.
Two weeks twice a year? That’s amazing! You’ve had enough now though. Give somebody else a chance.
You have 3 ways that any resource can be limited:
Pricing, queuing or timing.
1) You can raise the price of entry which is the way Gov. Green is going. It may not solve the problem if you set the price too low and if it’s too high you may have other effects.
2) You can issue tickets (even free ones) to both residents and visitors. This is a fair way of limiting access to keep the areas in good shape while not limiting access only to the rich.
3) You can impose time limits on how long you can stay at a resource and fine/tow those who don’t comply.
I personally would be encouraging resort and cruise ship development of some of the uninhabited islands to take the pressure off of the 8 inhabited ones.
The places you cite in your article that Hawaii is studying are all outside the US. They are not US states, subject to US law. I have a feeling that might just impact on Hawaii’s ability to restrict US visitors, but the rising state taxes can keep us out. We are in HI 3 times a year due to family connections. Prices keep climbing. They will soon price themselves out of the market. Just my opinion.
To a certain extent, that’s what they want to do – price themselves out of the mass tourism market. The trick is going to be playing the balancing game well enough not to destroy the industry while still limiting the people visiting to a sustainable level.
I tend towards the laissez-faire end of capitalism myself, but I can sympathize with the governor wanting to get rid of the outside-owned short term rentals as much as possible.
The major problem I think for most of our locals here has been overcrowding and disrespectful attitude from visitors when they come here. It’s a lot of we spent so much money to come here we deserve this and that. And at sites that are considered sacred for native Hawaiians here, and for me as a Japanese American like the Byodo-In temple for example, it’s not a tourist attraction it is a religious site for those of us who are Japanese. What a temple is to us is what a church is to many of you so please treat it that same way. And when locals tell you to not do something or there is a sign to not pass please don’t just ignore them it’s usually a safety issue.
I don’t want to come off as rude as you did make a couple of valid points, but keep in mind it is not the locals place to police visitors and if some locals had it their way they would tell visitors to not visit beaches.
I can provide an example from my own experience at Waimea Canyon last year. There was a couple of locals yelling at people to not use the bathroom facilities because they were broken, the bathroom facilities were not broken as I and others had just used them and knew for a fact they were fully functioning, this is very disrespectful to visitors.
Also, tourists acting like certain things are owed to them will continue to get worse as the local government continues to try and squeeze every penny out of visitors.
Erika,
I think some of the “entitled tourists” is a society issue with just entitlement and hate. As a tourist I know I don’t fit that mold. When we do visit annually, and truly try to have Aloha spirit and learn about the culture and leave areas better than when we came. We visit local restaurants and shops, and end up buying things just to support the businesses. Especially since COVID, we tip aggressively.
As pricing and taxes escalate, it will reduce visitors, but it will also reduce dining and shopping revenue, not only of those who no longer visit, but those who do visit but scale back spending. Whenever govt tries to “fix” an issue they tend to cause more issues, while not really solving the problem.
“we spent so much money to come here we deserve this and that.”. Unfortunately this is the “entitlement” attitude of so many in today’s society. I wish you luck in your attempt to change it. Please let me know if you find a solution.
Hawaii has generated mountains of revenue over the years, both at the state and local level. Where that revenue was invested is an interesting question. It seems that all new “solutions” involve asking more money from visitors, and an assumption that all your ills come from tourism. It may be a good way to get politicians reelected, but it turns a blind eye to issues created by fiscal mismanagement.
Why don’t you just come out and say you only want the wealthy to visit Hawaii. Odd, based on your proposals, people who live and earn like average Hawaiians will no longer be able to afford your islands.
When I first came to Maui in 1968, meeting my surfing friends from Redondo Beach, CA, we were 21-23 years old. When I came to the home in Kihei, the local police came twice a week to check on who was living there. I had to show them my plane ticket when I was leaving.
They came 3 days before I left to make sure I knew, I was leaving.
As I came back over the next 3 summer years, things were just as strict about living in Maui. However, so many low-life hippies were coming on a one-way ticket and camping everywhere, begging for food. So many West Coast losers were making Maui their second home to escape the trouble they were in. Now they are way older and still are a part of the Maui culture, calling themselves Hawaiian.
So are vactions for the rich and famous only? What about the uber wealth buy up land such Ellis’s purchased Lani’ia?
Ellis bought it from another private owner. So he technically did buy up land. Not an expert but the Uber rich with large parcels are not the issue with housing issues, short term rentals, or over tourism.
Ellison bought the company that owed the land, thereby he technically did not buy the land directly.
The jury is still out on how that will end but I am a regular buyer of the Sensei lettuce that is from Lanai and one of his enterprises.
Agree with the Sensai lettuce. It’s the best, freshest salad greens you can but in the islands…and from Safeway!
Earmark 25% of the fee to fund permanently affordable workforce housing across the state using PAL Hawaii. Many reasons to fund PAL instead of another government agency including agility and speed of response.
We travel several times a year and have found Hawaii to be overcrowded, over prices and after 3 visits over the years we won’t be returning.
We have been going to Puamana, Maui, as an extended family group, for many years. Puamana’s demise is so sad for us. We could walk to Lahaina from there and did so often to eat at favorite places and enjoy the quaint town and the entertainment.
We got to know the Puamana personel and always enjoyed our vacations thoroughly. It is sad to know those times are over. But I surely can imagine that for the locals, the decreased travel there, especially to the small towns, is quite welcome. Now locals can better enjoy their island. It’s time.
I’m sure our family will find an alternate gathering place in time, but it won’t have the memories….
How does a local enjoy their time when they are unemployed and have no money? Go after illegal STR’s not the legal, tax paying (highest in country) licensed STR’s which provides employment to thousands of locals across the islands. And please, State and Counties, use your STR taxes to fix your busted up roads, terrible park restrooms and get rid of the abandoned cars and refrigerators dumped alongside the roads. All of these third world features, by the way, are not created by tourists, they come from irresponsible locals.
For all of the responses saying, “We’ll go somewhere else … etc., etc., etc.” I’m thrilled that’s their response. They are likely the same tourists who think it is their God-given right to behave as they want, and resent anyone, Hawaiian, or otherwise to set standards …. even a proposed measly $25 fee per visit. We are not wealthy, but have a timeshare where we pay $1000 + per year in fees, even though our schedule is for every other year. We shop for the lowest fares through Google, and have been fortunate to schedule our Kauai visits in December. We are respectful, and conscientious about our visits on an island we love, and look forward to better days for the people of Hawaii.