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224 thoughts on “New Fees, Fines And Systems Coming To Maui and All Hawaii Visitors”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » New Fees, Fines And Systems Coming To Maui and All Hawaii Visitors
I see the idea behind increased use fees to help control excessive tourism. I like the idea that visitors might help pay for bathrooms (which they will use) but can’t shake the discomfort of the elitism it could engender. Is money the answer to everything? Do we only want to invite rich people to visit Maui? Is there some other way to vet the malihini based on decent behavior? Well, I didn’t say I had easy answers…
It is about money. Restrooms don’t grow on trees, and they must be maintained. Residents pay local taxes (property and such) to support infrastructure but they need to find some way to tap into the hordes of non-residents.
Aloha Hal! I agree restrooms don’t grow on trees anywhere in America. My question is should Las Vegas, for example, do the same for visitors from other states?
Mahalo!
For Las Vegas, at some point they may need to consider it. They had, or had, a really high car rental tax. They are a place where people go to spend a lot of money, so there is a thriving economy that gets something from the visitors. At the bottom of the argument, facilities and infrastructure cost money. Somebody has to provide it. We can do the “we all need to support them” and send them, say, mainland tax money. Or, we can let the users pay. It should be an interesting discussion.
Debram: The same people who are getting all the inter island Covid testing $$. Locals don’t pay to get tested but tourists do!
I made my first trip in 1985. Maui is my FAVORITE vacation spot. “IF” all works out I will be there this September/October to meet up with an OLD friend from Canada. Yes I miss the OLD Maui. It was NOT crowded in 1985. I’ve taken family members several years. Super great vacation spot. I love all the islands but Maui is #1 for me. Early on all the flights come through Honolulu. I saw the airplane with the roof missing one year when I landed. I flew a NON STOP Honoulu St. Louis one trip years ago. Spent the entire night on the plane. Now I can fly DFW-OGG non stop.
NO do not enact Visitor Impact Fees!!
During the pandemic the governor of Hawaii made it literally impossible to go to the islands. Then the islands complained that their jobs/livelihood were being taken away because no tourists. Now, that tourism is picking up on the islands, they want to tax the heck out of the tourists who want to come!! You cant have it both ways!
It may be necessary to enact some road access fees (road to hana) and others.
But most likely the boom in travel to Hawaii will lessen back to normal in 6-8 months or so when other countries reopen their borders…
Federal coronavirus money is being used by the County of Kauai to study beach and local parks parking situation for visitors. Why are they not using that money on what it was intended for. I am upset by this when so many other things need to be fixed on the island. Just charge the fee and forget the “study”. Sounds very suspicious and sneaky to me. Who’s getting paid the money to do the study?????
Thank you for the information, it will be useful for our trip there next month!
Rather than simply complain, just what are the Islands supposed to do? The tourists require transportation, food, shelter, energy just the same as the residents. How do you get money from them for necessary infrastructure? The land base is limited, how do you control use so that people, whether resident or visitor, can access beaches and such? Hawaii has a crying need for restoration of many of its lands that visitors want to see/hike/bird/photograph. And so on. The money has to come from somewhere; what ideas are out there? How can the Islands limit the total amount of people on the Islands so that there is something to visit besides vast urban areas?
I’m a local on oahu but many friends and Family live on the mainland. It is already hard enough for them to come visit. I feel this would make it even worse. Plus the money never really goes anywhere but into the pockets of politicians and justs make it that much more expensive for us locals who live here. Definitely against.
Karen L… to fund ridiculous projects like the white elephant rail system! I am in the same situation as you are, friends and family are already saying they won’t be able to visit as often.
Really helpful article re Fine System Coming To Maui. Thanks.
Mahalo!