It just takes one person to wreck it for others. With some ugly details.
500 thoughts on “How Some Tourists are Ruining Hawaii Travel for Everyone”
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It just takes one person to wreck it for others. With some ugly details.
Comments are closed.
The experience of some Hawaii residents as reported by the article is sad and unfortunate, but I fear that that experience is just a part of a nation-wide trend of entitlement, self-centeredness, incivility. intolerance, and even hate. We are not immune from this trend. Nonetheless, let us not permit the few who are uncivil or self-centered, whether among us or among our visitors, diminish our aloha spirit and our welcoming of the many who visit this special place to enjoy that spirit and our people.
I’m happy to say that I have never experienced any animosity from locals during my annual return to Hawaii. We return every winter for 5 weeks or so. This is most likely due to the fact that I was born and raised in Hawaii and have local friends and family on the Islands. It is also do the the fact that I love Hawaii and its residents, food, music, and water activity. All of the things that I miss most when I’m away.
It is worth mentioning that I have never had an issue with locals in Europe or South America. Visitors need to remember that when traveling to other countries that you are a Guest in that country. Be respectful and take the time to learn the culture from your Hosts. Stop being the “Ugly American”
Aloha
I think this is a problem of the entire service industry. The airlines had to implement legislation nationwide against disorderly travelers. The feeling of entitlement and ensuing rudeness of many individuals is something we are finding everywhere. It’s sad and also worrying.
On this site there was a recent article that stated that HI officials wanted HI transformed into a high price tourist haven. Has anyone thought that maybe with this attitude the officials might be inciting higher than realistic expectations and may be targeting more tourists who are used to a catered life. Could it also be that long time visitors like ourselves feel they are now being ripped off and frustrated by the exorbitant gov. fees and taxes levied strictly on tourists. Or maybe all the homeless the state refuses to address.
Homelessness is hardly a Hawaii-specific problem. If you have some grand plan on how to fix it please do share.
That is a good point that I never really considered, they are definitely attracting a different class of tourist.
Another frustration for local government is that a lot of the taxes don’t go to them, so it doesn’t really help the local economy. That is a big part of the reason Kauai want to go to a permit system/charge for parking and access to Poipu beach and other areas like they do at Haena/Kee/Waimea.
One problem I see with the permit system like I listed above is this really sets them up to have frustrated tourists that feel like they are being charged at every turn and makes the island feel like one big tourist attraction.
Just spent an unending Paradise of 2 weeks on kaui Maui and Hawaii. I can see how both sides feel. On road to Hana the handwritten signs about respect were grating on me but when I saw all the trash left on beac by my hotel nightly it really aggravated me. As did the Hordes on walkways and in Lahaina really no different than Florida communities like ft Lauderdale and Miami. However I had a really nice interaction with a local mother cooking with her daughter on a kaui beach. When I inquired if tourists could use the obviously locals beach she not only said of course but showed us were fishing lines and undertow were. Respect beats respect. Mahalo and aloha !
We have been visiting Hawaii for 35 years, staying on Kauai for more than 30 years with the last 10 at Kekaha. We have gotten to know some of our neighbors and enjoy being in the neighborhood. Our only goal is to just enjoy the beauty of the island and the people. This past December we were there for 3 weeks and even as visitors we have never seen such blatant disrespect for property, wildlife, traditions and other people. We attempted to intervene when protected wildlife was being harassed and threatened by people who view Hawaii as a sort of amusement park. It breaks our hearts but we are going to suspend our annual trips to the island for a few years and hope it returns to pre-pandemic status.
There’s no mention in this post of Hawaii residents holding up signs at HNL notifying arriving tourists to ‘Go Home’, how newly-arrived Billionaires and Multimillionaires have driven the cost of real estate and nearly everything else on the islands through the roof, and how Hawaii has become so expensive that the average long-term resident can no longer afford to live here. All of this adds to the reasons why do many Hawaiian residents are finding life more difficult.
Thanks for addressing this and voicing this important issue. The sad news is there are just toooo many people in the world. People are having children for the wrong reasons and not raising them properly, if at all. The more people the less Earth and green space. We also have too much world greed. The big guys keep buying the little guys and just a few corporations own everything, thus inflation appears. I am almost 80 and really really want to come back and see Maui one more time, but the costs is just too prohibitive. Our lovely condo that we used to rent on Maui is now only rented out to 6 months or more if at all. Its all just so very sad to me very very sad.
10 million visitors per year vs. 1.4 million residents. Las Vegas has about 40 million visitors per year and 2 million residents. Hardly ever hear their locals whining. Unfortunately, I do think Hawaii has become a very large theme park.
You’re talking apples and oranges here. First off…if you’re speaking of just Las Vegas and not all of Nevada then the population is around 650,000. The strip in Vegas where most people go is most definitely a playground! It was made that way. People moved to Vegas because of this and only this. Hawaii on the other hand is an entire culture, language, lands that were stolen from the Hawaiians. You can’t even compare the two!
That’s exactly the problem. Comparing Hawaii to Las Vegas, apples and oranges. Vegas is designed and built for crowds. Hawaii has to figure out a way to prevent the islands from turning into a tropical version of the Vegas Strip. The Aloha spirit is under attack here, no where else has what Hawaii has and it should be protected.
When I’m on vacation I try to treat everybody With respect, courtesy and politeness and always give a good tip everybody works hard for their money.I just came back from Oahu back to the 9th island lol.People who act like that when they’re on vacation they’re probably bullies at home.Scream and yell at people because the food was wrong or they expect something special.I enjoyed the time we spent in Hawaii and everyone made us feel very special. Mahalo!!🤙🏽
It’s sad, living in a tourist infested Wyoming mountain ski town we are getting the same things from tourists. Zero respect to locals, property or nature. I’m not sure what happened to decency or common sense…guess Covid killed it. Be better people!