176 thoughts on “Hawaii Tries Controlling Visitors Who Simply Want Vacations”
SK
Will this fee bring back the Aloha Spirit? I visited last week for the 1st time since the covid shut down. During my previous trips, my family and I had mostly positive interactions with workers. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. This last trip was exactly the opposite. The majority of workers my family and I interacted with were bored, annoyed, or just plain rude. We do our best to be pleasant and easy to deal with but we all walked away from most interactions wondering what we did to deserve the short tempered responses we received. I’m not sure what the answer is but I’d sure like to help the locals feel the love again!
The State of Hawaii has been making bad choices for years now. Just look at the lane markings on many roads much less dig into housing policy, food security planning or education policy. This has the hallmarks of an emotionally derived plan and less about helping the environment. I wonder if we could even spend that much money prudently or efficiently.
I do not understand why it is so difficult to understand the difference with providing an incentive to encourage a desired visitor behavior rather than hitting us with a sledge hammer or taxing every penny in sight. Conversely, many politicians instead somehow believe on taxing folks beyond affordability and using the money to throw at their favorite projects, whether citizens approve of them or not.
The state government has lost there mind..trying to control who comes to Hawaii and what they do..you can’t stop people from coming from one state to another mabe las Vegas doesn’t want people from Hawaii coming there.you simply can’t control people that way or you end up with communism or a dictatorship.the Hawaii government is crazy..in the end people are not going to stand for it..
My wife and I have visited a Hawaii twice. We Always strive to be “polite visitors” whatever our destination. We follow recycling guidelines and strive to conserve water and energy. We respect the environment. We do not like being told where we can or cannot travel by some government bureaucrat.
Visitor fees, are a common sense response to the degradation of resources almost Solely due to the excessive visitor counts who have invaded Hawaii. Why should locals pay more for things that they often dont use at all anymore since they have been made to feel unwanted in their own home? We already pay high taxes, COL, fees and in many cases dont really benefit from visitors. Hawaii’s industry is 95% owned by off-shore Wall Street/Tokyo types,the money does not benefit the islands and the old management that cared about Hawaii is gone. The profits that should be reinvested in Hawaii go off-shore. And, sweetheart deals cutting taxes reduces income to support the tourism plant. Thank dumb and/or corrupt politicians.
Bern, your question intrigued me so I looked Capri up. Below is the headline I came across site after site. So yes, they are having a hard time, many places have been inundated with tourists, just ask Venice! I guess you could say they are crying.
“The Italian island of Capri is struggling to deal with the 2 million tourists that are visiting each year.
The mass number of visitors is starting to cause overcrowding, making it harder to move about the island and preventing visitors from experiencing all that Capri has to offer.”
The nature is in perfect shape does not need 100 million dollars per year. A scam, another control freak pycho measure by simpleton city people who know nothing about nature and how strong it is. More people will just vacation in the Caribbean, South pacific, ect Hawaii is shooting itself in the foot.
I Love Hawaii. I will gladly pay the $50 for the joy of visiting your gorgeous islands! Please put my $50 towards more beach sand near the Outrigger Reef (half kidding)!! I will be back again next year!
I do not have any problem with the fee but I would ask the residents of Hawaii to go to the legislator and ask them what they are doing with hall the tax mmoney they currently get from tourists.
I have been going to Maui since 2008 and the visitors tax is now 385.72 for a 7 day stay. In the 15 years I have been going there I have paid over $10,000 in Lodging Tax yet the roads are exactly the same as when I started going and so are the parking lots for the beaches.
It seems like they keep raising the tax but nothing gets done. Why?
The mayor said he will control tourism by making accommodations etc so expensive only the rich can go. Well he is doing a great job its ridiculously expensive. I used to go twice a year. Now I cant afford to go.
Its very sad
Really just another example of not wanting visitors even though visitors bring a lot of money to Hawaii including wages for regular citizens. Hawaii will be in $$$ trouble without the tourists. This will mean many people will travel to all the other wonderful places in the USA and world. Will timeshare owners be considered tourists even though they pay property taxes and other taxes through their timeshares?
I assume that if you are not a Hawaii resident, you will be considered a visitor, no matter if you own anything here or not. Especially if you own anything here, actually.
We own a condo on the Big Island and I believe that if you are an actual property owner, you are not subject to any of these “ka-ching” tourist fees. However, timeshares may be viewed differently since you own a “share of time” and do not own the actual brick and mortar asset, even though you pay your “share of” property taxes and ongoing maintenance fees that rise relentlessly. I could never, ever understand the attraction that “time share” holds for people and I have viewed it from every angle possible. Much like a new car as soon as you drive it off the lot you start losing money. No offense, but in my humble opinion, timeshares are a horrible investment. The only guaranteed winners are the resort owners and their sales people.
Always follow the money when these type of considerations are proposed. Just disguises another visitor tax/fee increase. Call it what you like. I just returned from a 5 week vacation in Honolulu, very sad to say I’m thinking about it will be my last after 30 years of once or twice a year.
Just more negativity around visitors. It certainly doesn’t feel as inviting as it once did. I’m happy to help the people of Hawaii pay for anything or services they need, through property taxes which are paid by everyone. It’s too easy to find things to spend money on when you don’t have to share the burden. For those who somehow don’t understand the taxation system perhaps spending some money on understanding how all municipal, county and state government things are paid for? I’m willing to bet the property taxes on tourism driven businesses(resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc) pay half or more of the total tax burden.
Be Like Japan visiting a park, any beaches everyone pay entry fee’s other than that it is free, presently you pay to enter a zoo just to see animals, you pay to see any museums, why you have to pay for entry? for maintenance and over head expense.
This is not just Hawaii. The same kind of talks are active in Venice, Italy, Kyoto, Japan, Barcelona, Spain and many other prime tourist sites around the world which are being choked by mass tourism in response to cheaper and cheaper flights.
Here at home (Big Island) we lost a few beaches to lava flow in 2018 and now locals who used to have their own beaches (Puna area, Kapoho), are now coming to beaches in Hilo and Kona that are already maxed out with cruise ship passengers, AirBnB guests driving in on rental cars, and so on. We do regular beach counts and we are seeing absolutely unsustainable numbers on our few sandy beaches.
Once again, throwing money at a problem doesn’t necessarily fix it. Hawaii vacation prices are astronomical already, and while we, Hawaii travelers, appreciate your unique challenges with regards to tourism and its impacts, raising the cost of the opportunity to come there, only limits the kinds of people who come, not the numbers. And by “kind of people” I mean wealthy, which does not insure the land is treated any better. I feel sorry for Hawaii. I once lived there as a child and visiting is a real joy, but too costly now.
In Volcano Village the visitors who stay in a BandB and eat at our restaurants and shop in our art galleries are generally not “rich”. The “rich” get a high end tour and come only to visit for the day. And then return to their all inclusive resort
There was an article this AM in my local paper regarding the $50 fee. It also stated that it would only apply to visitors and not locals. It is not clear why the visitors need to pay to protect the natural resources and not the locals who live on the islands?
Regarding why locals wont pay the visitor “green fee”…because we already pay up the wazoo in local taxes/fees ranging from GET which is really double digits due to layering by distribution tier and covers Everything from food to meds to dying!. Plus we pay high property taxes, conveyance taxes on almost everything we sell, stupid high fees on things like car registration, etc. So, we are paying plenty already. And, many if not most of the places that are showing the ills of excessive wear and tear are doing so in direct correlation with the excessive use by visitors. Social media has shown these to millions and ruined it for those of us who live here. It is 99% visitors who end up needing rescue from dangerous trails and beaches.
You are so, so wrong about the taxes. We pay the lowest taxes, by far, in the nation. Visitors, however, already pay the highest taxes in the nation. Owners who are residents pay 2% property taxes. Hotels, timeshares, and short-term rentals pay >11% property taxes. This doesn’t even count visitor accommodations taxes, which at 17.25%, are also the highest in the nation. Visitors are already paying way more than their fair share!
Except the whole goal is to eliminate tourism. So this has nothing to do with natural resources, rescuing hikers, blah, blah, blah. It has to do with preventing people from coming here. We want to be the only people to enjoy our beautiful state.
Aloha, I came here to say the same. First article in the local paper’ app. Then I saw it featured on the local news. I don’t think it’s really helping.
Will this fee bring back the Aloha Spirit? I visited last week for the 1st time since the covid shut down. During my previous trips, my family and I had mostly positive interactions with workers. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. This last trip was exactly the opposite. The majority of workers my family and I interacted with were bored, annoyed, or just plain rude. We do our best to be pleasant and easy to deal with but we all walked away from most interactions wondering what we did to deserve the short tempered responses we received. I’m not sure what the answer is but I’d sure like to help the locals feel the love again!
The State of Hawaii has been making bad choices for years now. Just look at the lane markings on many roads much less dig into housing policy, food security planning or education policy. This has the hallmarks of an emotionally derived plan and less about helping the environment. I wonder if we could even spend that much money prudently or efficiently.
I do not understand why it is so difficult to understand the difference with providing an incentive to encourage a desired visitor behavior rather than hitting us with a sledge hammer or taxing every penny in sight. Conversely, many politicians instead somehow believe on taxing folks beyond affordability and using the money to throw at their favorite projects, whether citizens approve of them or not.
The state government has lost there mind..trying to control who comes to Hawaii and what they do..you can’t stop people from coming from one state to another mabe las Vegas doesn’t want people from Hawaii coming there.you simply can’t control people that way or you end up with communism or a dictatorship.the Hawaii government is crazy..in the end people are not going to stand for it..
My wife and I have visited a Hawaii twice. We Always strive to be “polite visitors” whatever our destination. We follow recycling guidelines and strive to conserve water and energy. We respect the environment. We do not like being told where we can or cannot travel by some government bureaucrat.
Visitor fees, are a common sense response to the degradation of resources almost Solely due to the excessive visitor counts who have invaded Hawaii. Why should locals pay more for things that they often dont use at all anymore since they have been made to feel unwanted in their own home? We already pay high taxes, COL, fees and in many cases dont really benefit from visitors. Hawaii’s industry is 95% owned by off-shore Wall Street/Tokyo types,the money does not benefit the islands and the old management that cared about Hawaii is gone. The profits that should be reinvested in Hawaii go off-shore. And, sweetheart deals cutting taxes reduces income to support the tourism plant. Thank dumb and/or corrupt politicians.
It will all go to Gov’t but who cares. There is one Hawaii and it takes big buck. Always has Always will. Are people on Capri crying?
Bern, your question intrigued me so I looked Capri up. Below is the headline I came across site after site. So yes, they are having a hard time, many places have been inundated with tourists, just ask Venice! I guess you could say they are crying.
“The Italian island of Capri is struggling to deal with the 2 million tourists that are visiting each year.
The mass number of visitors is starting to cause overcrowding, making it harder to move about the island and preventing visitors from experiencing all that Capri has to offer.”
The nature is in perfect shape does not need 100 million dollars per year. A scam, another control freak pycho measure by simpleton city people who know nothing about nature and how strong it is. More people will just vacation in the Caribbean, South pacific, ect Hawaii is shooting itself in the foot.
I Love Hawaii. I will gladly pay the $50 for the joy of visiting your gorgeous islands! Please put my $50 towards more beach sand near the Outrigger Reef (half kidding)!! I will be back again next year!
I do not have any problem with the fee but I would ask the residents of Hawaii to go to the legislator and ask them what they are doing with hall the tax mmoney they currently get from tourists.
I have been going to Maui since 2008 and the visitors tax is now 385.72 for a 7 day stay. In the 15 years I have been going there I have paid over $10,000 in Lodging Tax yet the roads are exactly the same as when I started going and so are the parking lots for the beaches.
It seems like they keep raising the tax but nothing gets done. Why?
Well, actually, the roads/area around the airport got totally redone….. 🤔
The mayor said he will control tourism by making accommodations etc so expensive only the rich can go. Well he is doing a great job its ridiculously expensive. I used to go twice a year. Now I cant afford to go.
Its very sad
Really just another example of not wanting visitors even though visitors bring a lot of money to Hawaii including wages for regular citizens. Hawaii will be in $$$ trouble without the tourists. This will mean many people will travel to all the other wonderful places in the USA and world. Will timeshare owners be considered tourists even though they pay property taxes and other taxes through their timeshares?
Tana G, that is my question exactly. I own at the Hyatt on Maui. I have a deed to my 1 week … do I have to pay?
I assume that if you are not a Hawaii resident, you will be considered a visitor, no matter if you own anything here or not. Especially if you own anything here, actually.
We own a condo on the Big Island and I believe that if you are an actual property owner, you are not subject to any of these “ka-ching” tourist fees. However, timeshares may be viewed differently since you own a “share of time” and do not own the actual brick and mortar asset, even though you pay your “share of” property taxes and ongoing maintenance fees that rise relentlessly. I could never, ever understand the attraction that “time share” holds for people and I have viewed it from every angle possible. Much like a new car as soon as you drive it off the lot you start losing money. No offense, but in my humble opinion, timeshares are a horrible investment. The only guaranteed winners are the resort owners and their sales people.
Most of us are managed enough at work, without being managed while on vacation as well. Such an off-putting title. Oh well, all part of The Plan.
Always follow the money when these type of considerations are proposed. Just disguises another visitor tax/fee increase. Call it what you like. I just returned from a 5 week vacation in Honolulu, very sad to say I’m thinking about it will be my last after 30 years of once or twice a year.
Just more negativity around visitors. It certainly doesn’t feel as inviting as it once did. I’m happy to help the people of Hawaii pay for anything or services they need, through property taxes which are paid by everyone. It’s too easy to find things to spend money on when you don’t have to share the burden. For those who somehow don’t understand the taxation system perhaps spending some money on understanding how all municipal, county and state government things are paid for? I’m willing to bet the property taxes on tourism driven businesses(resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc) pay half or more of the total tax burden.
Be Like Japan visiting a park, any beaches everyone pay entry fee’s other than that it is free, presently you pay to enter a zoo just to see animals, you pay to see any museums, why you have to pay for entry? for maintenance and over head expense.
This is not just Hawaii. The same kind of talks are active in Venice, Italy, Kyoto, Japan, Barcelona, Spain and many other prime tourist sites around the world which are being choked by mass tourism in response to cheaper and cheaper flights.
Here at home (Big Island) we lost a few beaches to lava flow in 2018 and now locals who used to have their own beaches (Puna area, Kapoho), are now coming to beaches in Hilo and Kona that are already maxed out with cruise ship passengers, AirBnB guests driving in on rental cars, and so on. We do regular beach counts and we are seeing absolutely unsustainable numbers on our few sandy beaches.
Good luck with this.
Once again, throwing money at a problem doesn’t necessarily fix it. Hawaii vacation prices are astronomical already, and while we, Hawaii travelers, appreciate your unique challenges with regards to tourism and its impacts, raising the cost of the opportunity to come there, only limits the kinds of people who come, not the numbers. And by “kind of people” I mean wealthy, which does not insure the land is treated any better. I feel sorry for Hawaii. I once lived there as a child and visiting is a real joy, but too costly now.
In Volcano Village the visitors who stay in a BandB and eat at our restaurants and shop in our art galleries are generally not “rich”. The “rich” get a high end tour and come only to visit for the day. And then return to their all inclusive resort
There was an article this AM in my local paper regarding the $50 fee. It also stated that it would only apply to visitors and not locals. It is not clear why the visitors need to pay to protect the natural resources and not the locals who live on the islands?
Regarding why locals wont pay the visitor “green fee”…because we already pay up the wazoo in local taxes/fees ranging from GET which is really double digits due to layering by distribution tier and covers Everything from food to meds to dying!. Plus we pay high property taxes, conveyance taxes on almost everything we sell, stupid high fees on things like car registration, etc. So, we are paying plenty already. And, many if not most of the places that are showing the ills of excessive wear and tear are doing so in direct correlation with the excessive use by visitors. Social media has shown these to millions and ruined it for those of us who live here. It is 99% visitors who end up needing rescue from dangerous trails and beaches.
You are so, so wrong about the taxes. We pay the lowest taxes, by far, in the nation. Visitors, however, already pay the highest taxes in the nation. Owners who are residents pay 2% property taxes. Hotels, timeshares, and short-term rentals pay >11% property taxes. This doesn’t even count visitor accommodations taxes, which at 17.25%, are also the highest in the nation. Visitors are already paying way more than their fair share!
Except the whole goal is to eliminate tourism. So this has nothing to do with natural resources, rescuing hikers, blah, blah, blah. It has to do with preventing people from coming here. We want to be the only people to enjoy our beautiful state.
It’s heartbreaking, the lack of aloha.
And visitors don’t pay through the nose? Better check on that.
Aloha, I came here to say the same. First article in the local paper’ app. Then I saw it featured on the local news. I don’t think it’s really helping.
BOH, thanks for another interesting article!