10 Hawaii state parks plus more Kauai beaches currently being considered for a system to limit Hawaii visitor access.
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103 thoughts on “More Kauai Beaches May Soon Restrict Visitor Access”
10 Hawaii state parks plus more Kauai beaches currently being considered for a system to limit Hawaii visitor access.
Shuttles seem a good option, if they have low emissions and noise. For decades shuttle-only zones have tamed the beast at many attractions worldwide. But $35 per person seems high. In all I guess the plan has created what residents want: a no tourist/visitor unfriendly zone. We’ll avoid it.
Aloha- what is the Hanalei Bay Hotel? Also: spellcheck, man!
Aloha, Christie
Dumb residents face major tax hikes with loss of tourists they’re public beaches
I agree. Too many people messing the beauty of Hawaii up. Save Hawaii. Go Hawaiian natives. Get strict on outsiders. Aloha.
The population of Kauai has increases 25,000 or almost 50% since Iniki. More convenient to blame tourists who want to visit the beach for a day or 2.
Haena already has a reservation system and Tunnels does not need 1 as there is essentially no parking.
What bothers me most about the reservation system is they used federal disaster relief funds from FEMA paid by all U.S. taxpayers to create a system to keep tourists out (free for locals, of course, equal protection violation much?) and bring back the shuttle for a locals jobs program as well as rebuild the road and park after the 2018 flood destroyed the road.
Without those federal disaster relief funds the road past Hanalei wouldn’t even be fixed yet.
The reservation system should be challenged in federal court. Charge all or charge none.
I was with you right up to the “resident only” restriction.
If you are going to create two classes of users, and I’m in the second class, I will spend my dollars elsewhere. I suppose that’s the object.
Keep in mind, I treat the islands with respect. I expect an ordinary amount of respect in return.
I am one of these mainlanders who visit Kauai and cause so much trouble.I sympathise withe the locals who dislike traffic on the North Shore, but at the same time I think I will not visit Kauai again, or at least the North shore
If it were anywhere else in the world, 80% of Kauai would be considered environmentally sensitive, and protected. Tourism has pros and cons, and it needs to be carefully managed, or the reason people flock here in the first place will be gone forever.
There is a concern about ‘upsetting’ tourists who’ve paid to come and visit these spots. In reality these kind of measures raise awareness of the fragility of this island. It’s not a manufactured, replaceable environment, it needs treating with care and respect, if the island’s authorities aren’t seen to be spearheading this, tourists won’t do it spontaneously.
Yes, I completely agree, Steve M. Humans are historically irrational, greedy and selfish. Those behaviors must often be curtailed by others because most of the time we don’t see it in ourselves.
In addition, for the reasons just mentioned above, us local residents aren’t worried about tourism drying up. People will always want to visit and live in Hawaii. As a result, there will never be a lack of revenue available.
We live on the Central Coast of California. When we visit Morro Bay or Pismo Beach, it’s pretty much a guarantee that we’ll be vastly outnumbered by tourists. Doesn’t bother us a bit because it helps our local economy and adds much-needed jobs.
Glad that’s working out for you, Curtis S. However, Hawaii is not California. There is no comparison. Jobs have always morphed and changed depending upon the time we live in and technology.
Jobs are created and destroyed due this natural phenomena. It is no different for Hawaii and there should be no fear about loss of jobs due to tourism abating to reasonable levels. Jobs will simply come in a different form here. People will adapt as they always have.
This is disappointing. It feels like entitled residents want to keep hawaii beaches to themselves. This is happening in oahu too. The rich residents at lanikai beach have managed to lobby to pass a city ordinance that makes it illegal to park in public parking areas in lanikai during holiday weekends. Imagine being so rich, you can legislate out people using public parking. And to make matters worse it forces local police to waste tax dollars to patrol the streets during these times. What a waste
You’ve got it all wrong. It’s really quite simple. It comes down to space & volume. If you try to put too much volume in too little space, there will inevitably be severe problems. That’s where we’re at. I used to live on the windward side of Oahu, in Kaneohe & would go to Kailua & Lanikai beach quite often because those were the only beaches on that side. Oahu doesn’t have nearly the same amount of beach real estate that Kauai does, which means more crowds. Oahu also gets more tourists. Space is severely limited there. Can you imagine if where you lived was constantly flooded with people & left you no room to move, even on your own property & neighborhood? Not many people would like that. FulItime residents that pay taxes come first. Sorry
Thanks for your reply. I kindly disagree. Those homes are worth millions and they are using their wealth as political clout to keep regular people out of public areas and off public streets (paid for by taxpayers like myself) so they can have their expensive homes on/near the beach and have it all to themselves because they dont want to be inconvenienced by having to see regular people coming and going. And now they are using government resources (taxpayer dollars) by having police patrol to give out parking tickets lol. HPD is already short on manning, now lanikai residents are using them as personal security on the taxpayers dime. And its not like they are parking in peoples driveways
They are parking on public streets.
Once again, I beg to differ. If the public parking that you’re referring to is streets like Mokulua Dr. & Aalapapa Dr., which takes you in & out of Lanikai, then I don’t blame the residents for exercising their right to use public services, such as police, that their tax dollars also pay for, in order to keep their very small streets from being overrun by tourists’ rental cars. Those roads are very narrow & can only accommodate one way traffic. If people want to go to Lanikai beach there’s plenty of parking at Kailua Beach Park a short distance away. One could walk from there. It’s good exercise. Many also bike to that beach. Worst case is public transportation, which goes directly into the neighborhood & drops you off feet from the beach.
Where reservations make sense is in the effort to reduce impact on the natural environment and cultural resources in an area. There are a lot of state parks across the US that require some kind of reservation or charge a fee at least for parking.
As a resident who no longer gets to enjoy Makua (AKA Tunnels) for lack of access, it is a bitter fact. We have a bitsy road with little parking and for those of us who lives further, there is no point in driving 20 miles one way or more, not be able to find parking to enjoy our favorite spots.
Another example is Poipu’s Waiohai beach. I can drive 28 miles one way, get there not to find parking, and a beach with wall to wall people. So I haven’t been there for several years.
Hui Maka‘ainana o Makana won a revocable permit, subject to annual renewal, to manage the parking, online reservation system and shuttle system at Haena State Park in July 2021. Now, with the passage of Act 72, the hui can enter into a more stable 10 year contract with the state to further its efforts to manage overcrowding, congestion, degradation of resources and safety hazards at the park.
New crowd control measures modeled after those in Haena have already been implemented at State Parks on O’ahu, Maui and Big Island and it’s working very well based on the success story at Haena.