A visitor surcharge for parking on Kauai is set to be implemented.
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289 thoughts on “Should Visitors Pay New $10 Kauai Beach Parking Surcharge?”
A visitor surcharge for parking on Kauai is set to be implemented.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
I agree with you guys. A parking surcharge at Poipu and/or Hanalei beaches will just drive people onto streets. And if those streets are posted no parking there will be a ton of angry visitors. Is this what the state wants? I really like the idea of shuttle buses with stops.
Jennifer,
I haven’t been to Kauai in many years, but the shuttle sounds like a practical idea.
Trying to look at it from the govt point of view – shuttle = more expense to the govt. And the loss of imagined parking fees. How can the thoughtful people of Kauai show the govt that it will result in happier and more free-spending tourists?
I don’t know, just wondering.
I hope you’ll send a synopsis of the sentiments expressed here to the Kauai Council before they vote on the visitor beach tax….
Hello,
My wife and I visit Kauai multiple times per year. What I believe Kauai should try to avoid is looking like the Disneyland Money machine where every time you turn around you are laying out more cash and feel nickel & dimed to death. People will use all kinds of measures to keep from paying the fee, and leading to more ugly signage and parking tickets which wont be well received either. As it is, The Poipu Rd is in horrible shape and the beach lot looks like nobody cares.Where does $ go?
Aloha again,
As many negative comments in the thread why not make your voices heard by writing the mayor. Locals can votes but we can also vote with our pens. I think they need to know from the hands that feed them.
Honorable Derek S.K. Kawakami
Mayor, County of Kauai
4444 Rice St., Suite 235
Lihue, HI 96766
Hi BOH
The “thumbs up” just stopped working. I thought you would like to know.
MJ
Oops! It’s working now. Thank you J and G.
Hi Mj.
Whatever it was appears to have been related to your device (phone or computer) or browser. Glad it is fixed!
Aloha.
Hi, thank you for this article! I enjoy your posts.
We were on the Big Island in September 2021.
At Hapuna Beach and Alaka Falls, non-residents were required to pay a parking fee of $10 and a fee of $5 per person. Our group of four did pay the fee ( $30) for Akaka, but passed on Hapuna. There is a beach close by Hapuna (controlled access by the hotel); I think it was
Mauna Kea. I think $30 is too steep for parking and entrance. It just sounds like “soak the tourists!”
Hi Joni.
Thanks. We appreciate your input.
Aloha.
Geez. All these visitor fees. Separate accommodation tax both state and individual island. Car rental tax. Sales tax. Now parking at the beach tax if you are a non-resident! Where is all this money going? Because I don’t see improvements to infrastructure, beaches, or communities that mirror the annual money paid in taxes by tourist.
I do agree that there should be a pair parking system set up on the island of kauai. Here in Alaska we have a paid parking system set up statewide paid by pa. visitors
Ben, I feel your pain. But, in fairness, every state/city sticks it to tourists. They all have hotel tax, car rental tax and fees.
But not many charge tourists a different and higher rate for some activities.
I’ve played gold on Maui and Ohau and, I’m sure, some if not all courses have a much lower rate for residents. I know it’s true at two of the 5 courses I’ve played – maybe the others too.
They have fees in San Mateo for some beaches and I just do not go to them. There should be no fees to visit beaches!
I wouldn’t have a problem paying $10 if I knew where all the other tourist fees were being spent. Is there a way to find out the annual income of tourist fees and how it was appropriated per island? We grew up on the island and now have to pay “tourist” fees to go home.
We have not felt welcome in Hawaii on each of our many visits over the last 45 years, our last visit was to Kauai in Feb 2020. In 2019 we visited the Cook Islands, Rarotonga and Aitutaki. It was awesome, the locals welcomed us, went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. They know tourists help their economy. We loved it, like Hawaii was in the 1950’s and 60’s. When Covid is over or at least tolerated, we will go back to Rarotonga. We are tired of Hawaiians attitudes.
CINDY W… “45” is our magic number as well – except that is the number of times we’ve been to Kauai (plus additional trips to other islands) and in all those 45 times we have never felt unwelcome! Just sayin’!
Woops. Its Howell rd.with plenty of parking west side.
During heavy rains the Waiohai lot is 50% flooded. Not enough handicapped parking, some park in handicapped spaces W/O handicapped permit & expired safety. Poipu rd.west side has plenty off street parking but posted NO parking. Want to put a bad taste in a visitors mouth…just give them a ticket. So is fees & tickets the spirit of aloha?
I’ve long felt that there should be a small fee for every tourist arriving in Hawaii which would be earmarked for upgrades to parks, beaches, etc. that are used by tourists. Many of these facilities need care and upgrading.
Why only tourists? Locals use the beaches too and more often than tourists. Look what the locals did to Polihale beach during the pandemic and some tried to blame it on tourists.
Ok no more Kauai !! I’ve been to this island and the locals and everybody else acts like they don’t even want you to be there so guess what there’s other islands and places like Costa Rica that love us mainlanders . Thanks for the heads up !
aloha? what aloha? guess they just put a price on it.
Sad to see the money graubbing approach to Kauai’s largest industry.
Why not just charge for breathing? Kauai used to be a beautiful place to visit.
It used to be a beautiful place . . . .that’s the whole point! unfortunately too many have left the beaches littered
Hawaii appears to be adopting the pricing model of the low-cost airlines. The ones that charge you for a drink of water.
If Hawaii requires this type action for financial well being, it might be time for a much deeper dive into a self-evaluation of its economy.
This does not represent Hawaii well, but acts toward further changing its image from one of a historically significant unique natural beauty vacation and tourism destination into another “tourist trap” type attraction.
That’s a fact! Well said. I wish it wasn’t true, as our family always enjoyed vacations visiting us here but after the last 2 (2019 and early 2020) they all mentioned that they felt like they were price gouged. And they thought Hawaii used to be expensive! They don’t envy us anymore!
While we were on Maui for several weeks, we could not help but notice the tremendous amount of garbage left by tourist on the beaches. Broken umbrellas, chairs, packs, beer, soda and wine bottles, lots plastic and shoes too. Someone needs clean that filth up.
I take a trash bag to the beach every day we are there and pick up after others, plus the plastic to washes ashore, which is more and more every year. Then I dump it in the parking lot trash can and save my bag for the next time. Everyone needs to pick up after themselves and it does not take a lot of time to chip in and help.
Thank you, Cynthia. My wife is part of a beach beautification committee that does cleanup regularly. In 2018 I suffered a spinal cord injury and while I was recovering from surgery at Queens MedCen she was recruiting helpers. Best part about that was my friend Kimo K. came to visit me and sang The Aloha Friday Song to me, LOL!
How can you possibly say all those items were left by tourists, that’s a rather bold and “misinformed” statement!! Locals use the beach also but regardless it does need to be cleaned up!!!
Unfortunately locals also leave trash and towels, broken beach gear, drug paraphernalia, etc. on the beach, most appear to be teenagers and young adults.
Greg,
We saw them leave it. We did at times pickup after them.
I’m fine with paying the parking fee. I pay more than that for downtown parking in my city. $10 for all-day beach parking is worth it.
Wonder what Brenneke’s would think of this since they have a parking lot for the Restaurant. People not wanting to pay across the street I am sure will look for spots at Brenneke’s. I know I would.
The visitor only fees in Hawaii suck. They say it’s to avoid overcrowding, but to us visitors it says, we don’t want you. So why am I paying big bucks to come? I love Hawaii, but I’m old, Health and mobility do not allow a day laying in the sand and playing in the water. But, I do like to sit on the beach watching the beauty & activities. I might go to 3 or 4 different beaches, a picnic, photos and relaxing. Do I pay 3 or 4 fees. No I go to the Caribbean. Thanks for listening
How will this be implemented? We’ve saved every year since the 2000s (and we live in a fixed income) to visit the Islands, respectfully. We have similar issues with visitors where we live in Washington state. But, perhaps consider taxing those who own multiple homes to rent out (impacting housing costs for locals)more, rather than what amounts to 20%+ tax on for anyone who visits. At this rate local businesses will suffer and only corporations with expensive resorts will benefit.
Is this $10 per day? Or is this for a time period? Does it include Polihale State Park beach parking?
Thanks for the information.
Hi Cynthia.
We hope to learn more including the answers to your questions soon.
Aloha.
This won’t curtail visitors at beaches which is a primary reason for visiting Kauai. Why not charge every vehicle and have a resident rate and non-resident rate. More importantly where’s the revenue going? If it goes to upgrade and maintain beach park facilities I’m on board, but based on past practices I’m skeptical. Most county & state park restrooms are in terrible condition.
Like it or not Hawaii is a tourism driven economy. It’s time to embrace it.
Cannot help but wonder how that’s going to effect Brennecke’s Beach Broiler. Their parking lot gets a lot of use by customers, locals and tourist who also want to use Poipu Beach too. Could it be that the lot will be so full that customers will no longer be able to get into the Broiler?
Aloha Guys
Well Kauai has convinces us that it is no longer tourist friendly. We have been there 24 times coming from Pennsylvania, 2 filghts, 3 airports about,16 hours travel time. The beauty of the Hawaiian islands and especially Kauai is clouded with poor foresight on handling tourists.
This is really bad PR. I sincerely doubt the reason is to cut down crowding at the beaches since so many of the people who go to these beaches are locals. If the city council indeed wants to cut down the traffic at these two places, then make everyone, locals as well as visitors, pay the fee. Kauai is nickel and diming itself out of the tourism business. Keep that up and people will avoid it altogether. And we saw how that affected the local economy last year.
Kauai is the Mother Island and it calls us back. We visited in May – I actually had a local say to my face, we don’t want you here. We love what Covid has done for us and this Island. We are doing just fine without the Tourists. I wonder if it is still the same now that the Gov. Unemployment Supplement has ended?
So, I just wont go to those beaches. We already pay so much for accomodations, car rentals, yes, they are chasing me away.
Consider the beautiful beaches of Cancun!
I believe tourists are great consumers, why bite the hand off that feeds them?
Frustrating, but I get the hint.
This is unfortunate and I am not sure how they intend on policing the parking. The existing fees for visitors are high with extra fees on rooms and car rentals. If the county is charging for parking it should be for all or none. I think this is targeting and would be open to lawsuits.
If for my $10 our family got nicely maintained amenities, it might be worth it. Beach bathrooms, trails and other infrastructure tend to be kinda meh in Hawaii.
Since the pandemic we been lucky to visit Sardinia, French Polynesia and Panama as well as Maui. The Hawaii experience doesn’t always compare well.
As visitors to Kauai we already pay the highest tax on our accommodations and the astronomical price on the car rental itself, more than double what it was prior to the pandemic. Adding $10 a day for parking is rubbing salt into an already open wound. I understand why the charge at the north shore Kee/ Tunnels as parking is already limited and the road structure is under strain and repair from the flooding, but it is just greed at the other beaches where there is ample parking.
I think Hawaii are getting carried away with all the extra fees. I have visited Hawaii 10 times , my last was in 2019. I am from the Midwest ,so a long flight. all the new rules all the new fees for everything, Hawaii is only for the very wealthy now.
It was fun while it lasted .
Aloha
Goodbye, Hawai’i. You were our winter retreat for decades, but no more. Each year it has become more expensive and taxes, fees, and surcharges like this have added to basic costs. To top it off, many of the locals are less friendly to tourists. Southeast U.S. and the Caribbean, here we come.
Simply ridiculous! Yet another reason for not going back to Hawaii. These people are Pennywise and dollar foolish.
I think everyone who are not Kanaka should pay the fees.
I agree with Lee, stop gouging the tourists. If the intent is to stop the overcrowding and limit the number on the beaches, then everyone should be charged. If the intent is to defer the cost of maintenance, then everyone should pay. If the intent is to only charge the tourist because they are supposedly overcrowding the beaches, remember they are only there for one or two weeks at a time to not only spend time at the beaches but to spend.
This would discourage me from visiting Kauai. I don’t pay for parking. And especially not $10 for stopping at the beach. Hawaii in general is become quite unfriendly to visitors in many of the new policies.
Aloha Rob and Jeff Well once again, it is going to be discouraging for visitors to want to go to Kauai. Are they going to mark cars with chalk? And what will the fees be used toward? Maintenance and cleaning I would hope. Who will be collecting the fee? Attendants and hates to pass through to get to the water 🌊? Well, that would create 3 more jobs. Be interesting to see what comes of this new plan for parking.
Our first stop in Kauai is the Nukumoi Surf Shop for snorkel gear, merchandise and because of their welcoming aloha attitude. Will we have to pay the Poipu parking fee?
It’s amazing how big government has used the covid pandemic to make drastic changes to the way of life our country has always enjoyed.
Thanks for your report BOH!
Many places on the West Coast and on the mainland charge for parking with everyone paying. No singling out residents, visitors, aliens. You use, you pay regardless of residency. Kauai is becoming a very elitist island, diminishing aloha spirit and gouging visitors because of inept leadership. Is it worth fueling greater animosity between locals and visitors/guests?
Hi Lee.
Thanks for your comments.
Aloha.
With no improvements seen, one must wonder whose pockets are being lined with these wonderful fees. Glad we had our honeymoon in 2016 and babymoon in 2019. Doubt we will ever be back.