54 thoughts on “Hawaii Tourist Or Resident Misbehavior – What’s Worse?”
PK
Let’s not forget that most people living in Hawai’i are not native Hawaiian. Many Filipinos, Asian Pacific, Japanese descent, European descent, and a mix of all. Most likely the original Hawaiian people would be very disappointed on what happened to their land , beaches and Ocean. One time I was driving from Waipio along the road, and on one of the turnouts I saw a local boy throwing plastic trash bags over the cliff into the ocean. He was basically using that spot as a dump because he didn’t want to pay for trash removal. It’s sad because most of that stuff will never be recovered it will just be on that cliffside in the trees, with some of it reaching the ocean. This plastic waste could be around for hundreds of years to come.
I end up having to drive the saddle highway (Daniel K Inouye Hwy) on the big island every Friday to Kona and back to Hilo More or less for the last 10 years. I’ve been a part of highway cleanup efforts so I always make note of the amount of trash on the side of the road between certain mile markers on my way up (I’m kind of a nerd I know). These trips continued through the shutdown during the great absence of tourists. What did I observe? The amount of new trash on the side of the road every week was actually worse during the shutdown. Giving my personal observations, tourists are not the litter bugs. I wonder how many other bad behaviors are misplaced on them. Just a thought!
We have visited Kauai for many years. Have never encountered rudeness, nor felt threatened anywhere we have been. We thought maybe we were just lucky..but friends we’ve made on the Island told us it is what we bring to the table…
Maybe you missed the Resident parking only on a beach that doesn’t have resident parking only, or maybe you missed the sign that says stop stealing the glass from glass beach when in reality it comes from trash pulled into the ocean and washing back up and if you didn’t pick it up someone else would you simply can not end glass and shell collecting. By in large most people have no trouble when they come to Kauai, but does Kauai have an attitude problem, yes it does
As Hawai’i becomes more & more crowded with not only tourists, and tour companies which do tend to over exploit snorkeling spots, and other habitats like Manta feeding zones, & small beaches & coves- it is also just the volume of people now living in Hawai’i. The more people,the more chance for littering,& foolish, disrespectful conduct. Fishing line, fishing hooks, plastic containers, straws, water bottles, littered on the roadsides,and coastline are not all tourists of course. I guess most people in general within a population just don’t care that much. Living or visiting paradise comes with a certain amount of awareness and class. We’ll never be able to change everyone’s behavior,But We can do away with al single use plastics until then!
My wife and I recently visited Maui for our 25th anniversary. Never been to Hawaii and being temperature deprived Canadians, we were super excited for this trip. For the most part, the staff at hotels and restaurants were very friendly and open as well as some locals. The animosity that we did experience was the honking, swearing, illegal passing local on the road to Hana. How dare we stick to the posted speed limit! A sticker on a local surfer’s truck, “Welcome to Hawaii, now leave”. Or a self appointed sign, warning tourists from using parking space, reserved for local surfer’s. Despite that and the number of abandoned vehicles and the heartbreaking number of homeless, we enjoyed ourselves and gained a love for the land and rich culture.
My great grandparents came here as immigrants about a hundred years ago. We live comfortably and raised our two children here. There are limited job opportunities here with crazy housing prices and the cost of living in general. I work in the tourism industry and can honestly say not all the locals are out to terrorize you visitors. The Aloha Spirit is still alive but many of our youth are looking to blame someone for not being able to afford to live in the paradise they were born into. To sum it up, I would say we all can do better.
I will have 5 yrs on Maui this July.
I think I experienced what alot of locals are upset about by tourism.
When covid hit, and it was only locals here for a little over a year, the beaches weren’t crowded, the streets weren’t crowded. We all got to experience our home with our neighbors.
For myself, it was the best experience I’ve had here.
Then the gates open up and twice of many people are here. I go to the Kam beaches now, and feel like the only local there.
I have to move out of Kihei before I push down a tent someone sets up in front of me at the beach. This feeling of living Aloha with my neighbors, has wiped away Aloha for visitors.
My husband and I sold our house and needed somewhere to live for the winter. We thought about it and decided why not Hawaii? We rented a condo and had our car shipped over. The very day that we picked up our car, someone keyed it! We still had our California plates on it as we were going to the DMV the next day to get Hawaii plates. We soon realized that there was a definite prejudice towards Californians and decided not to tell locals who asked where we were from. We had nothing but respect for this incredibly beautiful and sacred place to the point where we didn’t go to beaches on Sunday’s so the locals could enjoy it with their families etc. Respect has to go both ways though. Like it or not, Hawaii is part of the USA!
Hi there! The timing of this article is so funny because my husband and I along with another couple visited Oahu in 2021 and then Maui just last month. We were just talking about all of the trash (abandoned cars and washing machines, dryers, other large appliances) that dot the roads on both islands. I diligently read BOH and other articles where the government and other locals blame the tourists for not respecting the land and the safety of the environment, but we were all pretty certain that it wasn’t tourists bringing their appliances/large trash to discard on the highways of the islands. We All have to do our part, we will continue to do so. Thanks so much BOH for all of your articles!
We have visited Kauai for many years. Have never encountered rudeness, nor felt threatened anywhere we have been. We thought maybe we were just lucky..but friends we’ve made on the Island told us it is what we bring to the table…
Let’s not forget that most people living in Hawai’i are not native Hawaiian. Many Filipinos, Asian Pacific, Japanese descent, European descent, and a mix of all. Most likely the original Hawaiian people would be very disappointed on what happened to their land , beaches and Ocean. One time I was driving from Waipio along the road, and on one of the turnouts I saw a local boy throwing plastic trash bags over the cliff into the ocean. He was basically using that spot as a dump because he didn’t want to pay for trash removal. It’s sad because most of that stuff will never be recovered it will just be on that cliffside in the trees, with some of it reaching the ocean. This plastic waste could be around for hundreds of years to come.
I end up having to drive the saddle highway (Daniel K Inouye Hwy) on the big island every Friday to Kona and back to Hilo More or less for the last 10 years. I’ve been a part of highway cleanup efforts so I always make note of the amount of trash on the side of the road between certain mile markers on my way up (I’m kind of a nerd I know). These trips continued through the shutdown during the great absence of tourists. What did I observe? The amount of new trash on the side of the road every week was actually worse during the shutdown. Giving my personal observations, tourists are not the litter bugs. I wonder how many other bad behaviors are misplaced on them. Just a thought!
We have visited Kauai for many years. Have never encountered rudeness, nor felt threatened anywhere we have been. We thought maybe we were just lucky..but friends we’ve made on the Island told us it is what we bring to the table…
Maybe you missed the Resident parking only on a beach that doesn’t have resident parking only, or maybe you missed the sign that says stop stealing the glass from glass beach when in reality it comes from trash pulled into the ocean and washing back up and if you didn’t pick it up someone else would you simply can not end glass and shell collecting. By in large most people have no trouble when they come to Kauai, but does Kauai have an attitude problem, yes it does
As Hawai’i becomes more & more crowded with not only tourists, and tour companies which do tend to over exploit snorkeling spots, and other habitats like Manta feeding zones, & small beaches & coves- it is also just the volume of people now living in Hawai’i. The more people,the more chance for littering,& foolish, disrespectful conduct. Fishing line, fishing hooks, plastic containers, straws, water bottles, littered on the roadsides,and coastline are not all tourists of course. I guess most people in general within a population just don’t care that much. Living or visiting paradise comes with a certain amount of awareness and class. We’ll never be able to change everyone’s behavior,But We can do away with al single use plastics until then!
My wife and I recently visited Maui for our 25th anniversary. Never been to Hawaii and being temperature deprived Canadians, we were super excited for this trip. For the most part, the staff at hotels and restaurants were very friendly and open as well as some locals. The animosity that we did experience was the honking, swearing, illegal passing local on the road to Hana. How dare we stick to the posted speed limit! A sticker on a local surfer’s truck, “Welcome to Hawaii, now leave”. Or a self appointed sign, warning tourists from using parking space, reserved for local surfer’s. Despite that and the number of abandoned vehicles and the heartbreaking number of homeless, we enjoyed ourselves and gained a love for the land and rich culture.
“Welcome to Hawaii, now leave”
Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw in Colorado not long after they legalized weed:
“You got high, Now go home”
My great grandparents came here as immigrants about a hundred years ago. We live comfortably and raised our two children here. There are limited job opportunities here with crazy housing prices and the cost of living in general. I work in the tourism industry and can honestly say not all the locals are out to terrorize you visitors. The Aloha Spirit is still alive but many of our youth are looking to blame someone for not being able to afford to live in the paradise they were born into. To sum it up, I would say we all can do better.
I will have 5 yrs on Maui this July.
I think I experienced what alot of locals are upset about by tourism.
When covid hit, and it was only locals here for a little over a year, the beaches weren’t crowded, the streets weren’t crowded. We all got to experience our home with our neighbors.
For myself, it was the best experience I’ve had here.
Then the gates open up and twice of many people are here. I go to the Kam beaches now, and feel like the only local there.
I have to move out of Kihei before I push down a tent someone sets up in front of me at the beach. This feeling of living Aloha with my neighbors, has wiped away Aloha for visitors.
My husband and I sold our house and needed somewhere to live for the winter. We thought about it and decided why not Hawaii? We rented a condo and had our car shipped over. The very day that we picked up our car, someone keyed it! We still had our California plates on it as we were going to the DMV the next day to get Hawaii plates. We soon realized that there was a definite prejudice towards Californians and decided not to tell locals who asked where we were from. We had nothing but respect for this incredibly beautiful and sacred place to the point where we didn’t go to beaches on Sunday’s so the locals could enjoy it with their families etc. Respect has to go both ways though. Like it or not, Hawaii is part of the USA!
Throughout Hawaii I have found abandoned cars and trucks left to rot, it’s really an eye sore and clearly the work of residents not tourists.
Hi there! The timing of this article is so funny because my husband and I along with another couple visited Oahu in 2021 and then Maui just last month. We were just talking about all of the trash (abandoned cars and washing machines, dryers, other large appliances) that dot the roads on both islands. I diligently read BOH and other articles where the government and other locals blame the tourists for not respecting the land and the safety of the environment, but we were all pretty certain that it wasn’t tourists bringing their appliances/large trash to discard on the highways of the islands. We All have to do our part, we will continue to do so. Thanks so much BOH for all of your articles!
Hi Jaime.
Thanks. We hope that otherwise, you had a great time on Maui!
Aloha.
We did have a great time! It was beautiful and we can’t wait to come back and visit Kauai next time!
We have visited Kauai for many years. Have never encountered rudeness, nor felt threatened anywhere we have been. We thought maybe we were just lucky..but friends we’ve made on the Island told us it is what we bring to the table…