Hawaii faces a formidable challenge balancing dwindling Hawaii travel numbers while not alienating the local community.
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88 thoughts on “Hawaii Spring Travel Slump Points To Tough Uphill Battle”
Hawaii faces a formidable challenge balancing dwindling Hawaii travel numbers while not alienating the local community.
Hotel prices are extremely high, then tack on resort fees and taxes. That kills “affordability” for the average traveler. 🙁
As a recent visitor to Hawaii, I get the need for “mindfulness” regarding the islands and balance, but asking visitors with both limited vacation time and budget to come, spend $500 to $800 a night on a hotel due to lack of vacation rentals to attend a few cultural festivals and volunteer their time isn’t a balance that’s likely to work for anyone but the hotel industry and whomever is getting free labor. Better try again before it’s too late.
We use to visit the big island twice a year. The prices for accomodations and a rental vehicle, plus the price for food means we travel elsewhere. We miss Hawaii but it has become unaffordable.
Seems to me the Gov. has gotten what he wanted…less tourists. Now he can live with it. Unfortunately, Hawai’i has made themselves into a one trick pony…
Middle class vacationers will not stay at high end hotels. Yet House Bill 1838 would eliminate affordable short term rentals and decrease vacation spending, employment, and property and other tax revenue.
Thank you for listing some of the financial gain that goes into the hands of the local economy, money that generated from guests staying in a vacation rental vs a hotel.
Corporate hotels are the one ones who make bank by having gotten lawmakers to restrict vacation rentals.
Citizens of Hawaii need to embrace tourism as an industry, not an “invasion”. Market your product, which will include preservation of the natural resources, teaching the history of the islands. Stop resenting tourists and figure out ways to encourage their business. If tourism drops, so will the economy. Your loss will be the gain of other tropical destinations.
What a mess! Unfortunately Hawaii now is suffering from incompetent leadership and special interest one party liberal politicians. They’re like the gang who couldn’t shoot straight! Their ridiculous over hyped politically correct messaging is a joke. A bunch of “word salad” pronouncements about meaningful tourists and volunteer/cultural engagement. What a crock. How about the state of Hawaii get serious about their lousy stewardship of a natural paradise for decades. Today’s challenges have been created by greedy special interest politicians who do not serve the good people of Hawaii well.
I also live in a place that is a hot tourist attraction. It can make things very difficult. Everything you experience, so do we. We have been coming to Hawaii every year for decades. We like to come not as tourists but as though we are visiting family, Hawaii being our family. We are respectful, quiet, and long ago stopped doing tourist type things except the national park. We just come, live like a local, refresh our souls, get in the water every day, watch the sunsets and go home. We would be unable do this if we had to pay for a hotel and with the cost of air, food, taxes, inflation etc we may soon no longer be able to visit at all. I don’t know what the answer is but please don’t lose the essence of Hawaii- the aloha spirit.
Well said, sister!
Hawaii has always had a love-hate relationship with us non-locals. They need us for their economy but they don’t want us there. The pendulum swings (as it tends to do) back and forth between the love and the hate. Right now it is on the hate side. Will it eventually come back to the love side? Only if Hawaii does things that attract us tourists back (like figuring out how to mitigate the insane costs to go there).
Just returned from Hawaii. Fabulous vacation on Kauai.
Would love to return but hotels and meals were very expensive. Food prices were reasonable so we made as many meals ourselves as we could. People were very welcoming. Great trip.
We are planning on a return visit however it may be our last dur to rising costs. If I have to stay in a hotel, I likely won’t come back.
It’s very difficult to continue to spend hard earned funds when you have an administration telling you to stay away.
We are very respectful visitors and treat Hawaii like we would our most treasured items
Love to go every year but the middle classes have been priced right out of the market. I understand the increases in costs and but hope it levels out before I get too old to go
I doubt I will ever go back to any of the Hawaiin islands. Why go somewhere I’m not wanted when I can go literally anywhere else in the world?
San Diego resident with wife and 3 kids……. we are on our way to Kauai week prior to Easter (3/25 to 3/31). I don’t think there is a slump. Everything incredibly expensive. Airfare about $1,200 per person. Hotel $1,000 per night. Should I have gone to Europe? LOL 🙂 Maybe they’re trying to make their margins on schmucks like me who still go, because West Coast to Hawaii is still so easy (non-stop flights, no passports, etc.)??? I don’t know.
Next trip is Tijuana to Zihuatanejo non-stop on Volaris. If you live in SD and you’re Not taking advantage of Tijuana, you are missing out. Do It!
Lack of common sense abounds, blinders, and greed. With the stranglehold on the decision makers by big business, the dumb law to go after the mom and pop air bnb to appease the hoteliers was totally counterproductive and your tourism would continue to hemorrhage, and take down many small businesses like restaurants trinket shops as collateral damage. How hypocritical, you care about the people? Really? I stayed at airbnb across the world and five times in Hawaii .I will never come back.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find the buzzwords used by HTA to be very off-putting:” mindful travelers”, “regenerative tourism”, “genuine experience”. These are all meaningless to most travelers. We love Hawaii but HTA-not so much! Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Visited Hawaii 25+ times and explored all the islands. Love Waikoloa and highland communities above on the Big Island. Unfortunately costs have skyrocketed pricing me out. Sad. Always looked forward to visiting.
I had a free condo in Kona for a week and didn’t hesitate to cancel. Puerto Rico gets my vacation dollars for a 9 day stay. Why spend my hard earned money where I’m not welcomed or wanted.
At this point you couldn’t pay me to come back to Hawaii. We visited Maui or the Big Island for 42 years straight. We just came back from an entire month in Palm Springs for the same price as 2 weeks in Hawaii and we didn’t have to deal with the nasty Hawaiian locals who don’t want you there anyway. Aloha
We have been going to Hawaii for years but this is our last year. The condo pricing is out of control and our dollars will go alot farther else where. Kona where we are is in depression empty storefronts and restaurants vagrants, and unsightly buildings greet tourists exorbitant parking fees at beaches and in some cases offensive washrooms have added to the disappointment. A major rethink and action is required urgently. We won’t be back and we’ve been coming for8 years.
I just viewed visitor stats other then Maui all arrival numbers to Hawii look pretty comparable to 2023.
Most posters on Hawaiian travel sites state the reason for not coming to Maui is high cost, lack of SRT condos and perceived negative view of tourist by local population.
Last December I booked travel to Maui since then prices have skyrocketed. At same time I booked travel to BI for October price has now doubled.
Also flights from the west coast are much higher then in past years.
As a tourist who has been to Honolulu a dozen times here’s my comments.
Lack of family restaurants. Cheesecake Factory and Cheezeburger are busy with lineups. Loosing Chillies, Bubba Gumps is stupid.
Whoever redesigned the International market Place into high end empty stores is an idiot.
1000 people on Wikiki beach and the central washroom out of service and not being worked on. Come on.
Noise, most even small towns have and enforce noise laws. Grow up, straight pipes, frt cans, and booming stereos are not a tourist attraction.
It had never been cheap to visit Hawaii. I still remember on my 1st visit. I went to an “orientation” which included a Free Breakfast. It turned out to be a breakfast to sell us Tours. I do remember them asking how many of you are here for the 1st time. Hands went up. The speaker said you people are Tourists. How many are here for the 2nd time. Hands went up. The speaker said, you people are wonderful. The speaker said how many are here for the 3rd time. Hands went up and the speaker said, You people are rich ! That was 20 years ago
Over my 10+ visits the cost has gone thru the sky. Tax, Restaurants, Tours, permits, parking, hotels etc. What was HTA expecting to happen?
HTA- promote hotel deals around the world or in whatever market and I don’t know how much anyone can influence airplane ticket costs but lower those. Travellers are looking for deals. There is a certain amount of attrition of regular visitors but let’s get first time visitors here. It’s all about the Benjamin’s. Hotels priced themselves out several years ago and private rentals became a very attractive alternative to expensive hotel rooms. Hotels have only themselves to blame. People I meet from the cruise ships often mention hotel costs when deciding to cruise Hawaii.