Hawaii’s tourism plans are in real trouble. Read why.
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Hawaii’s Tourism Plans Marooned Again, Mired in Latest Controversy
Hawaii is quickly becoming a destination for the ultra rich, visitors and residents alike while the common citizen struggles to make ends meet and the homeless population keeps growing. Hawaii is not longer the “Aloha” state.
The Aloha Spirit is gone.We sold our home and were able to bring the whole family. We spent about 30k total which was by far the most we have ever spent on a vacation and it was the worst trip we’ve ever had. So many people were rude like never before.It made me sad that I couldn’t share the Hawaii I’ve always held dear to my heart with my kids.I wish the locals nothing but peace and prosperity but I do not think I will return.The news station is guilty of promoting separation.Just to much hate.
As a recent (and hopefully repeat) visitor to your beautiful islands, I would accept a comprehensive alteration to the tourism policies of your community in order to be welcomed again. My partner and I found no hardship in the port of entry and pandemic related policies such as masking, social distancing and proof of vaccination for entry to restaurants, etc.. In fact, we wished that our home community had such support. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention!
Tough, if not meanspirited comments here.
There are plenty of islands to visit in the world, but aside from the Virgin Is., P.R., Guam, Hawai’i is the only place those of us U.S.-ers can share “home”. I’ve appreciated the diversity of peoples, culturally unique heritage, place-inspired music, welcoming and easy hospitality. But as in the story created by Kaui Hemmings, resident author penning “The Descendants”, tourists aren’t the only ones struggling to be there–
I lived on Hawaii for a long time, moved back to Alaska quite a few years ago. I flew to Hawaii last year to help some friends with some projects they were working on. There were hardly any tourists in Kona at all. All the tourist jobs were dried up. So instead, a lot of people were working for rich AirBnB landlords who were renting to long term remote workers. It felt terrible. A bunch of poor locals working for the rich. I’d rather work for the tourists. Even worse gentrification than before.
Seems like people will always have the money. Room rates here in Scottsdale, Arizona are in many case double. A nice 4 start or 5 are running in the 800 plus range for a starter room, then add in all the fees close to 1k. I went to see about doing a staycation and everything is pretty much booked. Not sure who is paying these ridiculous rates but people don’t seem to mind.
Where were all these concerns when hotel after hotel after hotel were being built to accommodate as many tourists as possible? Why was there no plan to control tourist population then? Seems like Hawaii got what it wanted and now is blaming the tourists!
Hawaii will eventually price most people out. Just like most neighborhoods many grew up in. This was the plan all along since this pandemic started the revenue per visitor was way down and the amount of people coming was way up prior. We decided to move to Hawaii in the late 90s much cheaper than visiting actually same goes for now factor in the money you will save not paying for vacation and it starts to make sense. Especially if you can work remote. One week vacation is 3 mortgage payments.
So, after reading this it appears that my upcoming trip to Kauai in January may very well be my last, as travel to Hawaii will probably be out of my budget. This makes me sad, but while I don’t particularly like Mexico, I do enjoy Aruba and that may become my new go-to.
The governing body of Hawaii best figure out…..You cannot have your cake and eat it too!
It seems odd that they are not acknowledging that their economic health and prosperity is directly related to tourism levels. The last year and a half has brutalized the state and those living there. Hawaii doesn’t have much which is entirely separate from tourism to power the economy. If they alienate tourists, they will find other places to visit…