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84 thoughts on “Hawaii Plans Conservation/Use Fees, Reservations Required, Capacity Limits, Education”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Hawaii Plans Conservation/Use Fees, Reservations Required, Capacity Limits, Education
Please do not go excessive with these fees. There are many of us that can afford to come and we do spend money. But the more fees we pay, less money goes to the merchants and local businesses. And charging for the beach is tantamount to greed. People come here for the beaches. I see your need for conservation but do not overburden your tourists or you may lose many of us.
More affluent visitors don’t really feel compelled to align to your goal for conservationism. They are use to setting their own rules. Mature Midwestern middle class visitors are more aligned. Research what group of visitors flaunted your laws/rules. Also include some of your locals who don’t follow rules/laws.
Tourists are not the only ones who travel to Hawaii. Many native Polynesians who have been priced out of living on the islands travel to Hawaii to visit family members and ancestral grounds. Charging high fees for anyone who comes to the islands hurts the descendants of those whose land was already taken from them once. Affordable accommodations and access to the land is necessary for those of us on the mainland trying to maintain family and cultural ties to Hawaii.
Fees and taxes are all the state can develop. What will happen when they effectively kill the tourists industry. The state has no manufacturing base. Are the kamainas going to develop a taste for grass? Good luck
Indeed.
Does Hawaii offer:
International business/communication hub;
Major research/technology/education centers;
International financial center;
Trans-Pacific shipping hub;
Natural resource export;
Manufacturing?
Absent these and other things, restrictive tourism that is facing world-wide competition, global economic influences, non-competitive pricing, disjointed government, no growth initiatives, and decaying infrastructure may not be a firm path to sustaining economic growth.
Additional fees may reduce the number of tourists but that doesn’t mean the ones that visit will be responsible tourists or spread wealth.
Very little of the money spent will go back into Hawaii’s economy and the majority of it will end up leaving the island.The government will only waste the new income from those fees.
I would like to see an analysis of how each dollar spent is divided by govt, businesses, and residents.
Hawaii is rapidly doing its best to price itself out of my consideration. My wife commented today that we ought to consider moving here. I didn’t say anything, but my reasons against the move keep growing. Your gun laws are already nuts (and, as far as I am concerned, unconstitutional). She doesn’t want to move further from the grandkids, and yet she wants to move here? And now you propose new fees that would make a marginally affordable location even more expensive? Are you nuts? Sorry.
We have lots of laws that are just nuts! They won’t even let us walk down the street with an open container, and forget about driving with one. Plus, centipedes, traffic, and occasional cloudy/rainy days. I don’t think you’ll like it here and respect your decision to go somewhere else. Maybe Florida?
This isn’t just a Hawaii issue I’ve read the same comments about high cost travel to Disney properties, California resort areas, National Parks or any hot spot vacation area in America.
The days of $100.00 a night beach side condo stays are over.
Last November I booked a stay at a very nice resort on BI for this May, which has since tripled in price, but again today I found a killer deal for Maui for this October.
There’s deals to Hawaii if you know where and how to find them.
HI is delutional if it thinks that it can survive w/o the mass budget tourists. As it can’t compete with the world leading service and accommidations found in Bora Bora, Fiji, etc. Even in the top end HI resorts you have to get your own beach towels, beach chair, etc. In Bora you touch 9 and yoala you get a fully setup beach chair down to the Champagne. Having stayed in both it’s not even close Bora wins/
If they lose the budget travelers it will never make up that lost revenue.
We don’t need cheap tourists at all – it doesn’t help Hawai’i. We may lose a few kiosks in Waikiki and Ala Moana but that’s fine. The big spending tourists are what we need to focus on. This affordable tourist industry attracts a lot of low quality tourists and the money generated from these McDollar menu tourists doesn’t make up for the strain on our natural resources.
First, they aren’t “cheap.” Many save for years to take a special vacation. And, then they spend it in Hawaii.
Second, Hawaii has a tourism economy – you have nothing else to offer for building a vibrant economy (the military has limits as well).
Third, a tourism economy requires a mix of tourists: the wealthy, the middle class, and those who save for years to come.
Hawaii seems to take much for granted when it comes to the military. While once a strategic defense necessity, such has been essentially erased by the technologies of transportation and weapons.
Cost to the military, as reflected in Hawaii’s comparatively high cost of living to military personnel and with facilities operations/maintenance, enhance Hawaii’s exposure to a Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) action.
With Sen Inouye’s passing, Hawaii lost its defense champion.
Heyward,
I don’t think there have been any base closures under BRAC since 2006. Are you aware of any on the horizon? Actually, given the history of Pearl Harbor, I can’t imagine any closures in Hawaii. Do you think it’s a real possibility?
My company began doing work on overseas bases in 2002 and got hit hard by BRAC, we lost nearly half our overseas work in Europe.
Visitors are soon to be taxed 20% for their accommodations and that money will go into a black hole. The intent is good but the execution historically has been less than expected. For example, the light rail on Oahu for which there is an additional 1/2% monthly tax that was supposed to expire but continues with no results.
Charging fees shall decrease some classes of travelers and increase your bottom line per visitor. Those coming will have more money to spend and at the same time hotels shall suffer from the loss of overall visitors. Do it and see how you will suffer over the short and long term.
It’s become obvious over the last several years pre-covid that Hawaii has needed to make some drastic changes to how tourism is handled. The islands just cannot sustain these numbers of visitors.
A visit to Hawaii is vastly different from a visit to Mexico, though we enjoy both for different reasons. We look forward to visiting Hawaii in the not too distant future and hope that the measures she is undertaking bring the changes intended.