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All of Hawaii — including Maui — is open to visitors. Across the state, hotels, restaurants and tours are bidding for guests. A few places have even opened in Lahaina as well, such as the Hawaiian entertainment venue Old Lahaina Luau and restaurant Mala Ocean Tavern.
However, some visitors are still uncertain about traveling to Hawaii at all.
“The feeling of being unwelcome started with the Covid lockdown and the treatment of the tourist then,” Shelley Kresan, a visitor from California, told SFGATE in a Facebook message.
“After the fires, I started hearing about how the tourists were recreating near where deaths occurred. Yeah, I can appreciate the shock, dismay and anger. But as time wore on, the attitude was: we need your tourist dollars, but don’t really want you,” she continued.
On Reddit, travelers ask every few months whether it’s appropriate to go to Hawaii. Some users wonder if traveling to Hawaii is the right thing to do, especially to Maui. Some are going with caution, while others are going without reserve.
“So much anti-tourist, hate filled comments, it made me apprehensive about visiting,” Mary, a visitor from Indiana, told SFGATE. She had been using Reddit to plan a trip, but now wants to delete her account. She said a Hawaii cousin told her that the hateful comments are “only on Reddit.”
The question of whether or not to go has played out even as the number of travelers has declined.
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Visitor arrivals are down
Hawaii saw a surge of visitors after COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, but that slowed down last summer, even before the wildfires. The number of visitors continues to decline, according to the most recent Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism news release.
“There were 855,537 visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in March 2024, down 5.0 percent [or 45,263] from a year ago,” the release said.
On Maui, it’s a significant difference. The island saw 206,049 visitors in March 2024, down from 276,485 in March 2023 and 271,934 visitors in March 2019.
There are many causes: higher prices, the Lahaina fire, competition with other destinations and worries about feeling unwelcome. No matter the reason, it’s apparent some visitors are taking a longer pause when considering Hawaii as a travel destination.
“We’ve definitely seen a decline in travel requests to Maui and Hawaii in general. There has been some concern about visiting Maui due to the fires, but after explaining that Maui is open except for Lahaina town, clients have been put at ease,” Kathy Takushi, Maui-based owner and travel advisor of Captivating Journeys, told SFGATE in an email.
She said the high cost of resorts and their additional fees are the reasons why most requests don’t result in bookings.
Mixed messaging
A few years ago, it was a very different story.
In 2019, Hawaii hit a major milestone. It received over 10 million visitors for the first time in a single year.
At the time, Honolulu councilwoman Kymberly Pine told Hawaii News Now, “We’re getting to a point that if we don’t as a city get involved in managing our tourism better then the residents are going to start turning against our no. 1 economy.”
The Hawaii Tourism Authority, the agency responsible for managing Hawaii’s tourism, created destination management plans in 2020 to curb overcrowding and damage to the environment and to promote regenerative tourism. It also concentrated on targeting the “mindful traveler.” Advanced reservation systems were put in place at popular tourist spots.
But as Pine predicted, residents were getting increasingly unhappy. In the fall of 2021, a survey measuring resident sentiment fell to its worst level since 1988. Only 49% said tourism brought more benefits than problems.
Source: https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-visitor-numbers-declining-19475393.php
