Visitors taking heat for a Hawaii vacation. And it is too easy for Hawaii tourists and residents to misunderstand one another.
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77 thoughts on “Reviled For Flaunting A Hawaii Vacation | What’s Next For Visitors”
Maui loves tourism just not in Lahaina. It is now sacred ground and people need to heed that. Kaanapali going north to Kapalua and Kahakuloa are good with visitors as is Kihei and Wailea. Just be respectful of the people and the island. All is fragile at this time.
I would love for many people to stop going to Maui. Maybe all first-timers will choose to stay away. But ultimately, Maui must have tourists to survive and thrive.
Tourism will continue to exist in Hawaii, if only because that’s where so much of the state’s revenue comes from. They don’t seem to mind tourists as long as they’re the “right” kind of tourist. As far as I can tell, they mean respectful but also, rich and spends a lot of money. You know, more money from less people filling up the roads. Ms. Rodrigo seems the definition of the “right” type of tourist. There is no indication that she was disrespectful and if she’s staying at the Four Seasons, she’s spending a ton. Instagram trolls don’t represent the majority of the residents, native or otherwise in Hawaii. The vast majority of people are nice to tourists as long as the tourists are nice to them. Aloha on Instagram might be dead, but it’s not on the islands.
As a traveler who always pays the utmost respect to the lands I visit and the people to whom those lands belong, I can’t help but hope Hawaii experiences a drastic drop in tourism. It’s what locals have been begging for in an extremely vocal manner, and I think it is necessary at this point to give the people what they want. Most people I know who loved Hawaii now go to the Caribbean or South Pacific instead, mostly due to the unwelcoming aspect of Hawaii that has become impossible to ignore. The spirit of aloha is gone. Perhaps the only way it can ever return is with a drastic decline in tourism and tourism revenue. I may return in a decade or two, but for now, we’ve all gotten the message.