Hawaii’s governor said his environmental impact fee will raise up to $600M per year and simultaneously reduce the quantity of Hawaii’s “low-end” visitors.
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199 thoughts on “Hawaii Visitor $50 “Green” Fees: How, When, Where?”
How does this affect kama’aina that have moved away? I come home 2-3 times a year to be with my ohana.
You might be taxing the visitors so much that many will go elsewhere
This today from The Points Guy. Still no one is saying where the money is actually going or how they can collect it.
thepointsguy.com/news/hawaii-new-tourist-tax/
Does Honolulu or any of our Islands have a discount card like LA, NYC, Las Vegas, etc. (the Go City Pass)? For about $59, the card gives discounts to major attractions. The state and HVCB could advertise and sell them through GoHawaii.com, etc. and work with businesses to provide discounts (10% off a meal, hotel or tour adventure, etc.). The card would pay for itself, participating businesses could/would benefit, and the state could generate millions in “voluntary” tourist revenue.
The state could even rebate part of the discount back to businesses like manufactures rebate coupon discounts to stores.
The cards themselves could become artistic “collectibles” like National Park Passes.
“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Mark great suggestion for states that want to be friendly and want more tourists. This is a state that wants less of us and only “high end” visitors. This law is meant to start to get rid of the “low end” tourist not to bring in the coupon clippers. The $50 surcharge is nothing compared to the extremely high prices you will pay for everything. It means nothing when you pay these prices and still get extremely poor service and many businesses closed because it seems like very few people want to work and many businesses are closed or just open sporadically. We were just on Kauai and very disappointing
Kim, until Hawaii and every other State declares that people that are able to work yet remain unemployed will receive Zero assistance of any kind will this problem end. There’s no reason to keep paying people to not work.
Agree, there may be exceptions. But 90% of the able-bodied must work.
Exactly
It’s not fair that I’ll have to pay for my grandchildren to come and visit me. Being older and on a fixed income. My grandchildren are teenagers and want to come to see us not Hawaii. Why should we have to pay extra for that.
Nancy I’m Certain that you are not the only Grangparent feeling the pain and anxiety from the Green Fee. If it’s the blame game and who to aim your concerns to begin with Governor Green, after that you can take your angst out on the Voters.
You actually don’t have to pay. You only pay because you want to. Their parents should be the ones to cover that. I did it for my kids to go see their grandparents and my kids are doing the same for my grand kids.
It’s a cruel world but it is what it is.
In 2025, my wife and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Because we saved money for all these years, we want to pay for a family trip as part of this, a total of 13 people varying in age from 10 to 73 (us 2) years old. Hawaii had been our preferred destination. But we will not pay $750 extra to visit Hawaii. Plenty of other wonderful summer destinations in the US that won’t charge us extra simply to set foot there.
Gov. Green took office and has made a lot of promises. According to Honolulu KHNL, “Green touched on economic redevelopment and tourism mitigation, adding that a climate change fund will be at least partly fed by visitor impact fees… Green has pledged to bring together private developers and philanthropists to build “thousands of new homes for Hawaii families” — in part, he said, by converting illegal vacation rentals into affordable housing.” Is he taking property by eminent domain? Exciting times in Hawaii.
Politicians always make a lot of promises… please check back in 4 years and see how many of the “thousands of new homes for Hawaiian families” actually get built – my guess is most of his budget will need to be used for legal fees given the number of lawsuits which will most likely be filed if he tries to implement some of these ideas. Perhaps he should spend his time/money on improving the overall quality of life for everyone involved by fixing the infrastructure, i.e., roads, HNL, water supply, more teachers/doctors/medical care, etc., and above all, let’s be sure to mitigate the ‘coupon clippers’ and low end visitors.
Well said, Dan. This Gov is already making Ige look good.
Or perhaps instilling a work ethic in the people who live there
Now you’re hitting below their Sensibilities and Ability levels.
Eminent Domain, an interesting suggestion. Fair Market Value is far from cheap in Hawaii. I am picturing the Lawsuits over the State’s Appraisers, their “honest” appraisals from Fairydust Land. Lands being held up for a year or more because of price, then the demolition. It could be several years before anything is built, will the money really be available? Proving a property is Illegally renting isn’t easy, time consuming with additional costs and testimony plus Lawyers on both sides. Drug properties are still standing over a decade later. Aside from Constitutional Issues and Legal Wrangling the costs are Prohibitive to say the least, who’s Green kidding besides himself? Hopefully he was a better Doctor!
Just got done with our 6th visit to Kauai since 2009. We will not be back anytime soon $50 green fee or not. Was not an enjoyable time. Besides extraordinary high prices the service was horrible, seemed like no one was working. It was a chore to find places to eat. I think Gov Green will get his wish and eliminate the “low end” visitors like myself. We have traveled the world the past 10 years and have stayed in much more interesting places that welcomed us instead of chasing us away.
It only seems fair to have mainland states to charge a fee for Hawaiians entering the mainland, plus export duties for goods destined for Hawaii.
I totally agree with you, it’s an Awesome World with many Exotic Tropical Locations that are very welcoming, actually happy to see us. The Costs are nowhere near Hawaii and the experiences are gasp worthy. Hawaii can have their Rich and Wealthy, they’ll be bored and moving on eventually. So many other places exist that they prefer to be seen. It’s their greed, their loss.
And yet, Ernie, here you are. LOL…
Eldo, Absolutely! How could I not be, I would have to miss your Commentary. How would I fill my free moments? I Love visiting Hawaii and have a fairly unique opportunity every year to visit,catch up with the friends and acquaintances that I’ve made, maybe even meet some new people. I just disagree with how some things are done and wonder how nothing seems to be done to help the Rental Crisis. The Money goes somewhere, but where? Matching Federal Funds are available, why aren’t the House and Senate members helping? So many questions. Take care Eldo!
Are you going to tax babies and small children? If so that may deter many. You accommodation rax is quite high already. $50 is steep abd may have a negative rather than positive impact
Karen, as They see it, if people don’t like the Fee then they are not the people that They want visiting. It’s just the simple truth.