Maui has great resorts and an improved airport with the most flights (including widebody) to Hawaii other than Honolulu. But now it has clearly become too much of a good thing. So what happens next?
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306 thoughts on “Maui Visitors and Residents Square Off Starting Here”
Not everyone who travels to Maui is rich. This added to the cost of the rental car and gas makes a beach day unaffordable for us. Is there good bus service to these beaches?
So I’ve paid 3000.00 dollars for our plane tickets. 4000.00 dollars on our hotel. 800.00 dollars on our car. Over 2000.00 dollars on tours. So now we were going to drive to see the Beautiful beaches that every one of your ads brags about and it will cost me 30.00 at each one! You want to charge me to walk hand in hand with my wife on the beach. To go into your town to eat or go shopping and spend money I will now have to pay to do that. What happens when visitors stop coming? Why should I leave my hotel area and come into town to eat at one of your shops and now I can stay right at my hotel and eat. The only people that suffer are the tourist in the small business owners. Do you know the old saying be careful what you wish for.
My husband and I visited Maui in 2017. I chose it actually because it was over $2⁰0 less to fly to that island. I’m not sure why or if that is still the case. Anyway. It was hard to find parking anywhere we went at that time. I would love to come back and visit again as it was too short of a trip by a few days but yes all these visitors fees do make me question it. I had never heard of resort fees before i visited Hawaii as well. It does feel like they are turning away visitors. I’m not sure the right answer here but I do appreciate all your reports so I can keep on top of things and return some day.
Well I guess we should have seen this coming. The condos and hotels and rental cars are already morbidly overpriced and now $30 for going to the beach. Hawaii will soon be another playground for the super rich. Instead of that, can’t Hawaii just limit numbers of arriving guests? Stop building new resorts and this way limit the human biomass? A lot of local residents’ wages are paid by tourists and then these visitors are being punished? It seems to me that this will just insite fights and resentment at these beaches which will carry into the rest of the environment. Do you really think “us” vs. “them” rules will work out happily?
Adds a substantial cost to a visit to Maui. Discriminatory tourist trap rip off. Maui is too expensive now. Regrettable, because I love to visit; but as a pensioner on a fixed income I may never see the island again.
The unintended consequences will infuriate locals.
However I expect Uber-like businesses and expanded free resort shuttles will thrive.
Why do we continue to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots?
What about visiting disable tourist, will they be expected to pay $30.00 as all other tourist.
It is true that parking fees will be absorbed by visitors whom bring lots of money to the state. However, it also adds one more unpleasant experience and will turn away some to find other vacation options. Which is part of the goal. To me Maui has become over visited with crowded restaurants and pricey entrees. I say put the brakes on tourism make it Maui again.
To say $30.00 parking is nothing to people who are visiting is not fair
I would never ask anyone to come and visit our beautiful state and pay an outrageous parking fee to see our Mountains, Waterfalls, Evergreens, and Beautiful Pacific Coastline ❤️
It sounds like you only want rich people who would never go to any of the Kamoale beaches to stay where they belong and the rest of the world can never visit because they will never be able to afford to go.
I understand fully on the parking situation but is not fair to pick and choose who can and who can’t afford to go the beaches.
Thanks for kicking the little guys out. Good luck with the rich guys who are actually taking your land without a care.
Couldn’t agree more. Time to thin the herd a little on our island. Truthfully I just laugh though. For 2 years people have been threatening to never come back. They still do. And even the handful that may actually go elsewhere there are sadly many more lined up to take their place.
That thumbs up was a mistake. Totally get that issues need to be addressed re:parking. I spent what is a huge chunk of money for me, in 2009 to purchase timeshare weeks at a lovely Kaanapali resort, & have paid huge taxes/fees each year as well. I adore Maui & wanted to be able to visit each year. Sadly, I have not been back since 2019 due to the incredible increase of prices on everything. What about those of us that have invested to be able to own a tiny slice our beloved Maui? I can no longer afford to come and stay 3-4 weeks each year. In fact, I can no longer afford even a short trip. Makes me very sad to see the super rich buying up huge portion of Hawaii, & making it entirely unreachable for middle class.
Why not provide an allotment of designated spaces for residents and issue residents a “resident beach parking pass.” Then make the others paces in the lot for visitors who can purchAse an hourly or weekly passes? Seems to provide spaces for the visitors while not pushing out the residents!