As longtime visitors quietly bow out, the state seems unfazed. But we’re in Honolulu this month testing whether affordable Hawaii travel is still possible.
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135 thoughts on “Return Visitors Won’t Pay? Hawaii Knows Who Else Will”
We returned to Maui this year, a place we’ve loved over the years. Hotels/condos, rental cars and parking fees were exorbitantly expensive. Food and restaurants were expensive, too. Though we could pay, if we wanted to, we will likely never come back – there are many other places to go where we feel more appreciated and things are more affordable. It’s sad that the Hawaii I’ve known for 50 years is gone.
The Hawaiian government has said this straight out. They want higher end tourists that spend more money at expensive hotels and restaurants, not ones that stay in condos and cook at home. Their goal is higher tourist dollars per person.
Unfortunately in many cases it’s a mis-match with what Hawaii is. Most of the towns are run down and decrepit. There’s a charm to that when it’s inexpensive that evaporates as prices rises. If they want a higher end tourist, they need to invest in the infrastructure which they Never do.
We have been visiting Hawaii since ’74 and almost annually the last 20 years or so. Since ’15 we have made 4 trips to Africa and are scheduled for another this November. We have found that countries emphasize tourism differently. Tanzania and Kenya seem to go for volume. Lots of people, reasonably crowded venues, etc. Botswana has gone the other way. Limited access, much fewer people, and higher prices. Personally, we prefer the slower pace and less competition for viewing, But it does limit access. I should add that tourists seem welcomed all over, so Hawaii has a choice but hosting less people will be interesting.
Hawaii is working to compete with French Polynesia. US carriers are stepping up the routes to FP from our west coast. FP is a serious step up from Hawaii from a luxury market perspective. Hawaii thinks it can compete but it really can’t at the luxury tier. Land use reform especially in Maui county will serve to encourage mainlanders to exploit falling condo and vacation rental prices and encourage yet more mainlanders migrating at the expense of available jobs for Kanaka, there is no barrier to stop this. It’s a real tragedy. FP has specific ownership requirements to slow inbound migration from France, 5 year cooling off period. I’m not saying that Tahitians and other islanders are not also in a difficult struggle for self determination but FP does not limit local economic activity like vacation rentals. Alienating a mid range market segment like this could be a costly mistake as I think it’s the only safe harbor market HI has.
We have been to Hawaii many times over the years and loved it. But we have friends who have a timeshare on Maui and came back from a trip last Winter and said never again.
They said the rudeness of the Hawaiians was to much to justify the islands natural beauty.
I couldn’t agree more I have been a frequent visitor since ’78 and was there from mid Nov’24 to Jan’25 and this is the first time I was looking forward to leaving the island and never returning. It’s so sad what has happened to these once magnificent islands.
Went there5 times loved it but to cater to the rich over $ I would like to go back but only middle class and cannot afford it bummer 😕
Another force is the hotel lobbyists that manipulated the Hawaii government to kill short-term rentals at private residences (AirBnBs) to drive all visitors to keep the hotels full. Hawaii has regulated short term rentals to the point of being a losing prospect with all the fees, taxes and regulations. There is now much less choice in the types of places visitors can stay. This is hotels monopolizing the vacation rental business.