Maui tourism, an economic mainstay, sparks anger amid fire ruin
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[August 16, 2023]
By Doyinsola Oladipo, Julia Harte and Rich McKay
(Reuters) - The incongruous sight of tourists enjoying Maui's tropical
beaches while search-and-rescue teams trawl building ruins and waters
for victims of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century has
outraged some residents.
They have vented on social media, posting video of tourists enjoying
holiday activities like snorkeling while the death toll in the historic
resort town of Lahaina passes 100 and is rising every day.
"Our community needs time to heal, grieve, and restore," Hawaiian actor
Jason Momoa said on Instagram, urging tourists to cancel their trips.
Authorities and businesses have welcomed the trickle of travelers,
saying it will lessen the blow to the island's economy, which relies
heavily on tourism. The industry is Maui's "economic engine," generating
80% of its wealth, according to the island's economic development board.
As Maui embarks on a long, painful recovery from the fires, officials
are wrestling with how to balance residents' immediate needs for housing
and resources against the island's long-term financial health.
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Hawaii Governor Josh Green recalled at a weekend press conference how
the COVID-19 pandemic similarly forced the state to weigh the risks of
allowing tourists in during a public health crisis against the harm
Hawaii's economy would suffer from barring them.
"All of our people will need to survive, and we can't afford to have no
jobs or no future for our children," Green said. "When you restrict any
travel to a region, you really devastate its own local residents in many
ways more than anyone else."
Tourism has taken a hit in the week since the wildfire devastated
Lahaina, a popular vacation destination that was also home to historic
sites significant to Hawaiian residents.
The number of airline passengers to Maui on Sunday was down nearly 81%
compared to the same time last year, according to the Hawaii Department
of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
In 2022, 2.9 million tourists visited Maui, which has a year-round
population of 165,000, according to the latest numbers from the U.S.
Census Bureau. The state tourism department reported in February that
visitors spent $5.69 billion on Maui in 2022.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority now is asking visitors to avoid all
non-essential travel to West Maui, the part of the island affected by
the fires, so resources can be used to help locals recover.
“It is likely that a big chunk of the people who are affected, losing
family members, losing family homes, it's likely a lot of them were
employed by the visitor industry," tourism authority spokesperson Ilihia
Gionson said.
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![](../images/081623PIX/news_t16.jpg)
Local residents put up signs along the
highway entering the fire ravaged town of Lahaina on the island of
Maui in Hawaii, U.S., August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Hotels in West Maui have temporarily stopped accepting bookings.
Many are housing their employees and preparing to house evacuees and
first-responders working on disaster recovery, according to the
tourism authority.
The agency urged visitors to areas of Maui that did not burn - such
as Kahului, Wailuku, Kihei, Wailea and Makena - to contact their
accommodation and ensure they could still be hosted.
"Maui is not closed," Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said at the
weekend press conference alongside the governor. "Many of our
residents make their living off of tourism."
Reached by phone on Tuesday, the Four Seasons Resort at Wailea Beach
in South Maui said all hotel operations were running normally, but
that it was encouraging tourists with August reservations to
postpone their trips until the rest of the island had recovered more
fully.
Occupancy at the five-star hotel had plunged "dramatically" since
the fire, a front desk operator said.
Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which has 23 hotels
throughout Hawaii, said it was waiving cancellation penalties for
those traveling to, from or through all islands of Hawaii through
Aug. 31.
Jack Richards, CEO of Los Angeles-based travel company Pleasant
Holidays, scrambled to evacuate more than 400 customers who were on
Maui during the fires. Dead phone lines and lost internet
connections hampered the efforts, he said.
Most of the tourists were eventually relocated to other Hawaiian
islands. Another 1,400 customers with August travel plans to Maui
need to be rebooked, he said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/16/images/ads/current/heritagepackaging_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
Tour operators who continued to offer services in or around West
Maui after the fires faced a flood of criticism.
A company that held a charity snorkeling tour on Friday 11 miles (18
km) from Lahaina later issued an apology and said it was suspending
operations for the time being.
(Reporting by Rich McKay, Doyinsola Oladipo and Julia Harte; Editing
by Colleen Jenkins and Stephen Coates)
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