Hawaii’s tourism plans are in real trouble. Read why.
167 thoughts on “Hawaii’s Tourism Plans Marooned Again, Mired in Latest Controversy”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Hawaii’s Tourism Plans Marooned Again, Mired in Latest Controversy
Residents of Maui use the same roads and the same hospital…that is life in the tropics!
We are currently in Hilo for two weeks , and everyone has been more than gracious and kind. We’ve had a small handful of locals that were rude. But we just played it off as they were probably having a bad day. Nonetheless, still a breathtaking place and will long to come back.
HTA has been calling the shots on our economy since day one! after all the damage to our people..places and things sacred..HTA remains the major impediment to a positive solution. Hawaii is able to grow sustain and export food for a ourselves and a good part of the USA…why is Costco bringing bananas from Mexico and Dominican Republic..Pines from P.I..yucky mangoes from PR? Why can’t we grow veggies…mushrooms…watercress..poi..talapia shrimp for export? Local beef for ourselves etc. WHY?
If you don’t want our tourism money, there are plenty of places that do.
Aloha
As a frequent visitor to Maui one major concern is lack of accessible major healthcare facility for Wailea side snd especially Lahaina/Kapalua side… needing to drive 45 min at least to get to an acceptable hospital is truly outrageous snd dangerous to the large number of tourists in both those areas… and having only a bad two lane road from Lahaina is criminally negligent on the part of the tourist authority
A lot of respondents on this thread make the statement “lost the aloha spirit” (or something like that) and I question whether those folks understand the meaning behind it from the Hawaiian perspective. Aloha is not something transactional – it is reciprocal.
The entitlement attitude of mainland visitors has really changed…say since 2016 or so…
For a large proportion of us who live on our Islands & hold Hawai’i nei close culturally and environmentally we welcome a lessening of our economy being strictly driven by tourism and development. How many places in our world have to deal with constant tourists invading our neighborhoods, flying in helicopters over our houses, or behaving as if they are more entitled than our residents? We need to rethink & develop a more healthy and sustainable economy for the future of the people & the ‘aina.
Thank you Heidi – it is good to learn from your perspective.
Heidi my love, it’s easy to blame the transient population for our unhappiness. Look to our leadership rather than our guests.
Hiro is quite correct, Heidi. And to others that are misled by those who say the tourists are to blame. It’s the HTA and the C&C of Honolulu that issue the permits allowing overbuilding in Waikiki. I have found most tourists to be enlightened with the Aloha spirit (which is NOT gone). I think more B&B’s and less high rise living will expose tourists to true Aina.
My wife and I are coming over in March, 2022. Will be spending 7 days on Oahu and 10 on Maui. I’ve actually spent 9 years in Hawaii and my wife was born in Honolulu so we’re not strangers in the state. But, this trip will be our last. Tourists aren’t welcomed any longer. I get so tired of the locals complaining about us and telling us we’re destroying their land (we’re not the ones dumping old tires in the bushes or old refrigerators). So, your wish is our command. We won’t be back.
Good for you and your wife, Michael.
My first trip was a short one, courtesy of the USMC in 1965. My wife and I have been to Hawaii dozens of times and bought a Waikiki timeshare about 20 years ago. Sold it in July of this year. We may return but have no plans to do so. The folks at hotels and restaurants are great, but the govt and some locals lost the Aloha spirit long ago. Wish it wasn’t so.
Sorry to lose visitors like you due to bad governance. This is what one-party rule gets us. If Ige had the integrity to expand the travel program to allow visitors who have recovered from COVID, think of the upside healthy visitors bring!
Until then, know that many of us appreciate the value you bring to our economy and our local families that rely on tourism jobs to afford to live in Hawai’i.
Mahalo!
Funnel 7 million tourists to Manoa Falls. Meanwhile tear down stairway to heaven and close Maunawili Falls for two years. Wait, I think Manoa and Kailua residents have tourists complaints also.
I lived in a home off Ilikahi street in Lahaina from 2003-2005 it cost us 1350/month. That places now is $600 a night and it’s exactly the same. It’s a bed and breakfast now I feel truly blessed to have lived in such a fabulous place. I feel for the residents there where do you live the median home price just went over a million dollars. Who will be working there? Is anyone left to work? Hawaii always had a 2% unemployment rate for the most part.
Well maybe you should not take federal funding of my taxes or take tourism dollars. Let’s see how long you last!
Please tell the same to the largely poor states that take more annually in federal dollars than they contribute in federal taxes by a long shot. You know, the same ones that refuse to tax their residents sufficient to fund state programs, then call on the mostly metropolitan states to balance their deficits.
Hawai’i receives one of the lowest rates of federal tax revenue (as of 2017 it was 20%) within the Union. Whereas, Montana, N. Dakota, Mississippi and Louisiana receive the highest (40%+).
Actually Hawaii received the a lot more federal money if you count all the military contracts and employees.
Try again. you know those feeder states I mentioned? Every one has military presence. At least Hawaii has a strategic purpose. Alabama? Not so much.
Dude I lived there 20 years was in the military and lived in million dollar houses surrounded by contractors. If you looked up house sales 80 percent were bought with va loans. Without the federal money pouring in Hawaii would be a wasteland house prices would be less than half they are now especially on Oahu. I lived in hoa kale I and the cheapest house there is a million dollars. 90 percent military related owners.
Give it up dude. There are six habitable islands. My island of Hawaii has housing prices that would compare with Cali’s Central Valley. Your point was that Hawaii is military dependent. May be true for Oahu, but equally true for those mostly red, conservative feeder states. Did you even read the post about Hawaii’s federal dependence? It’s half that of those states.
Maui is an island..bigger than some..but small none the less…Federal $ for military installations…or Defense of the Country..can not equate to Federal money as a rule..