With over 100 engaging comments. What’s ahead in Hawaii travel needs your input too.
224 thoughts on “New Fees, Fines And Systems Coming To Maui and All Hawaii Visitors”
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With over 100 engaging comments. What’s ahead in Hawaii travel needs your input too.
Comments are closed.
Hi Lee Ann,
I have a house rented 250′ from Tunnels Beach in Haena for nine nights in 2022. There were many rentals to choose from.
I lived on Maui for 14 years. Some kind of accountability to help preserve Hawaiiana is necessary and financial seems the best way. There needs to be a way that shares these additional finances with the local people who so often spend there time and effort trying to maintain the beautiful islands. Perhaps it’s through additional jobs for people to plant,clean,tender, and promote aloha.
Hawaii is a beautiful place but you already pay so many taxes and fees. Why would they do this tourism is what runs there economy and I think it’s a bad idea. People will stop visiting. There are plenty of other beautiful beaches. I already feel like I pay a ton to go there if they increase taxes and fees I will find a new favorite place!
I used to live in Maui and work at the Maui Surf I lived in Napali tourism is the bread and butter of all the island adding another few to the flights is not a good Iidea young people are finding other places with white sand surf sun don’t be greedy be thankful people still want to visit I go every April will not if you start and more fees.
I’m in favor of alllll of this. I know it’s already expensive to come here, but these precious islands are only capable of supporting so much human life. If we don’t cut down or cut back somehow, the very thing that makes Hawai’i special will be gone. Covid showed us how quickly we naturr can heal itself, and just how much damage we’ve done already.
I myself born and raised on Maui in a little town called Hana I agree with fees why not let the visitors help foot the bill Aloha
Nature “HEALING” itself. FYI this was done when the island was closed to tourism!
staradvertiser.com/2020/07/28/breaking-news/large-gatherings-trucks-driving-over-hawaiian-burial-sites-widespread-defecation-forces-closure-of-polihale-state-park-on-kauai/
Hawaii just had a year without tourists. How did that work out?
I loved it when all the tourists were gone … and so did the beaches and waters around the islands ! And so did the employees who got to spend time with their families…. it was an eye opening experience about changing priorities for the islands… its not
a disneyland but if they want to make it a disneyland CHARGE for it !!!! Options for you- Mexico and Jamaica – go for it, Hawaii will easily survive without you !
It was pretty fantastic. Best year in a couple centuries.
I’m torn about charging higher admission fees, or levying higher fines, or even adding a tax to airline tickets. These seem to be very restrictive to those who can’t afford it, including locals. It’s a regressive tax. For those who are wealthy, none of these higher fees/costs will deter them from doing whatever they please.
The requirement for reservations at select parks make sense, and is a more equitable solution. Equal access for all. As for travel along the road to Hana, perhaps there can be a permit requirement via a reservation system. Locals could be exempted and not be negatively affected.
I am all for a permit system if places are reaching capacity. The problem is that they charge big fees to tourists and make it free to locals. How is that equitable? I am starting to feel second class when traveling to Hawaii.
While in Oahu a couple of years ago I was amazed at the condition of some of the residential neighborhoods. Piles of trash, used tires, mattresses, and abandoned electronic equipment littered the landscape. Was this caused by the “rude tourists”? I really doubt it.
We love and respect the Hawaiian Islands just as we do every other state in the United States.The idea that I would be charged an extra fee as a tax paying citizen is absurd. Hawaii gets a great deal of federal money.I pay taxes to the Federal government,so in essence I am paying a fee.
I live in California. Thousands of people come and visit every year.Yet you don’t hear us asking for visitor fees.
The more you charge people to enter the Islands the less they will spend in restaurants,stores,and other services.
Screw Hawaii.
that sentiment you could have kept to yourself. with covid’s impact on the islands and the isolation they endured and the major impact to their economy they need a helping hand.
Hawaii is already more expensive than competing destinations by a ridiculous degree. A $100 impact fee will not change the tourist volume, it seems destined to just line someone’s pockets.
If Hawaii is serious about limiting tourism’s impact, the number of visitor accommodation units (hotels or vacation rentals) needs to be hard-frozen at current numbers and those numbers can never be allowed to increase. Then build up the road and parking infrastructure to peacefully co-exist with that tourist volume. Most of the “impact of tourism” is really just insufficient transportation infrastructure.
Before Maui or any of the Islands, start to charge fees for visiting better check federal regulations about charging US citizens to travel freely from state to state. Don’t think it’s legal and will open up many lawsuits.
We have been taking extended vacations in Hawaii for many years. We buy at the local shops and farm markets and eat in your restaurants. We have a trip booked for January. If Hawaii starts adding impact fees to all the other high fees that are already in place, we won’t be able to afford to visit. You will have slaughtered the “piggy” bank. We were planning in four years to celebrate a landmark anniversary and bring the kids and grandkids, but I don’t believe that’s going to happen now.
Honestly, no one believes the impact fees will be used to safeguard the reefs, Hana Highway, etc. Where will that immense amount of money go? How would the State divvy up the money? Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Big Island – who is most worthy? Not the tourist!
Please quit blaming the tourists! Each islands county council has allowed, and will be responsible for, present and future negative tourism impacts. Tourism is not controlled by limiting car rentals, flights or assorted impact fees. In the past and moving forward, each county approves vacation rental zones, new condominiums and hotel space before the supporting infrastructure is in place. Remember the movie quote “if they build it they will come.” We should be working harder at developing affordable housing for Hawaiian workers and their families, not pricing them out of the market.
The people on the county board , have their heads in the sand. The age old saying don’t bite the hand who is paying you. It also goes to them who say we only want the rich here, but they only stay on there homes. As the average tourist goes to the local places, which provides jobs and and provides jobs to the local people.
Get off you high horse and look at what grows the local economy, not the rich, but the visitors who want to see what the island had to offer.
There money puts food on the table and help’s the county pay for other pay for other programs, helping others to better themself,
How about an “impact fee” for the Hana Hwy?
To be clear…i dont have a problem with the impact fees….i have a problem with how overcrowded it is and how so many people are pricing the locals out of their homes…what makes HI special is the people…but they resent us all now for ruining their home.
Re: Kauai – I’m wondering what the protocol is for Haena house rentals. We’ve rented two houses there in the past. Perhaps house rentals in that area aren’t even available these days and I’m not yet aware. In any case, we always went to Princeville for our groceries at least twice a week. Would that now require reservations?
The article is a bit misleading, the reservation system specifically controls access to the park that Ke’e beach is in. You can still stay at a vacation rental near Tunnels Beach and access that normally, or drive the road almost to the end without entering the final park.
The whole system is a bit broken, though, given that the parking lot is half empty most days even though slots sell out 30 days in advance. The capacity is dramatically higher than they are allowing in. So staying down there may not be as worthwhile as it used to be.
Hi Chris,
Actually, I think staying in Haena is now more worthwhile than it ever has been specifically because of the reservation system in place for Ke’e Beach.
The 900 daily entry passes for Ke’e Beach, even though they do sell out also, are much easier to obtain than one of the roughly 100 parking passes. Though the road is narrow, its a mile from Haena to Ke’e, and you can walk or bike in.
I shouldn’t say this, but for that reason I think the vacation rental owners in Haena can charge even more than they are currently. Not so much for properties in Wainiha, that’s getting pretty far away, but definitely for Haena.
And if you stay in Haena and get skunked out of Ke’e passes, Tunnels Beach ain’t too shabby either (understatement of the day).
Just my two cents.
Our place in Wainiha is exactly 2.0 miles from the Kalalau trailhead, near the Y-Camp. It is a legal vacation rental when we are not on island. Right now is the highest demand we’ve ever had going back to 2009. I was lucky to get a few weeks reserved here and there in my own house. Booked solid into summer of 2022 before we shut off any further reservations.
IMO, hiking to Hanakapiai Falls is the high point of visiting Kauai if you are an outdoors-type in decent hiking shape. Only 8 mi RT and no tourist helicopters, which get really annoying as you hike farther down to Kalalau Valley. With the Hanalei Hill road closure, a stroll to Ke’e followed by the RT hike is a great way to spend a weekday. No parking permit needed. Just the $1 entry pass. (psssst, you can get around the whole thing by walking the beach from Haena beach park to Ke’e during a low tide, but it can be tricky).
All of this happened as fall out from the April ’18 flood. Keep in mind we had 4 feet of rain in 24 hours. It took 14 months and $90M (mostly from FEMA) to rebuild the road – and they went ahead and replaced/upgraded three three bridges that ring around Hanalei Bay while they were at it.
It is impossible for me to explain the tension and bad blood that developed towards tourists, and really against anyone not a resident in the neighborhood following that flood. We were “convoy” people with our access stickers. Two vehicles max per property. Have an illegal rental? too bad. No extra stickers.
To even suggest that someday the road would be re-opened and tourists would be back would just get you shouted down at neighborhood meetings. I quit going to them.
Probably because your last name isn’t Zuckerberg or Brosnan or Robert’s or Ellison. Hawaii only wants a certain type of tourist and we aren’t what they are looking for.
The road is closed and limited at the Hanalei bridge to very short opening times a few times a day due to the Hanalei mudslide earlier in the year. There are very long line ups to get through at the few opening times.No reservations required to get through, just alot of spare time, patience and half your day…..
I have been visiting Maui for 25+ years. I no longer visit because it is not the same place I used to go too. Its beyond heartbreaking to see lands where I once went star gazing filled with Air BnBs and reefs once filled with so much colorful coral now dead. I can no longer find an empty beach to go where I don’t smell cigarettes and hear loud rap music coming out of someone’s boom box.
Yes, tourists are rude and disrespectful.However, ultimately, this is the fault of the local government. The local government approved these massive resort projects to be built. They allowed Honua Kai, Marriot. Westin, whatever to build large (and fairly ugly) buildings. They allowed for airlines to fly twin aisle aircrafts into an airport from across the country. Maui really reaped what it sowed and its time to stop passing the blame buck on but look internally. With the pandemic, it seels like the “I want to have my cake and eat it too attitude” has become more severe. With the approval of new Southwest flights and Ubited’s 777s and 767s coming in from the East Coast, the damage has already been done.
I take exception to your remark “Yes, tourists are rude and disrespectful.” I visit Maui regularly and I am neither. I do see, no doubt, such behavior from visitors but for the most part I see it from local residents towards visitors.
I believe that Maui must charge tourists fees visiting to Hana just like Haleakala Iao Valley, the Road that goes around Napili to Wailuku and the Wailuku Plantation All tourists attraction