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Hawaii's 'overtourism' becomes growing debate as West Maui reopens for visitors

The reopening sparked outrage among some residents.

West Maui began reopening Sunday to visitors just two months after a wildfire devastated the town of Lahaina .

The reopening did not come without outrage from some residents, many of whom signed a petition to delay the reopening as families continue to struggle to "find shelter, provide for their children's education, and cope with emotional trauma," according to the petition.

Homes have been flattened and are completely inhabitable. Businesses have been decimated. Some loved ones remain unaccounted for and residents have been grieving the loss of 97 people who died in the tragedy.

The petition has received more than 10,000 signatures.

The fact that tourism is resuming so soon around the outskirts of a town made unrecognizable by the wildfires has reignited an ongoing debate about Hawaii's reliance on tourism.

"There is just not a lot of activities like there usually is for these people to do, so a lot of people are wondering, why do they want to come here?" said Jordan Ruidas, a community organizer and resident.

Tourism is the No. 1 driver of that state's economy, according to Hawaii Tourism Authority , and businesses across the island have been impacted by the lack of visitors since the Aug. 8 wildfires.

But some residents link tourism and its historical links to colonialism with many of the issues plaguing the Islands, including lack of access to clean water, the housing crisis, and pollution and destruction of Hawaiian lands.

"It's a great business for Hawaii, but the difficult thing for us here is that there is not a street, a community, a county. There's nowhere that you can hide from tourism in Hawaii," said Susie Pu, a hotel manager on Maui.

She continued, "The most important thing is that we find a balance between the Hawaiian culture and tourism. Hawaiian people need to be benefiting from tourism equally. And I do not see that."

MORE: Maui wildfire missed signals stoke outrage as officials point fingers

Hawaii before tourism.

Hawaii didn't always rely on tourism as its main source of income.

According to research from the University of Hawaii , Hawaiian society was self-sustaining and run in cooperative, extended ohana -- or family -- that each manned subdivisions of land.

Native Hawaiians were recorded to have been living "well above subsistence levels, with extensive time available for cultural activities, sports, and games" before their long period of isolation from outsiders came to an end, the University of Hawaii found.

Contact with the outside world in the 1770s changed Hawaii drastically. Deaths caused a massive wave of fatalities, leading to a 90% decline in the Native Hawaiian population, according to research from the National Academy of Medicine.

The Hawaiian Kingdom and monarchy were formed during this period of change, adopting Western political strategies to settle disputes between competing Hawaiian states. The Islands also became integrated into the global market, losing its past self-sustaining system.

This drastic social, economic, and political change was marked by a shift to sugar production when a treaty with the U.S. exempted sugar firms on the island from high tariffs.

"The story of sugar is really, really important because in a lot of ways it was the wealthy and powerful corporations that promoted sugar to the kingdom that really were responsible for seeking markets in the United States," Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, the dean of the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, said.

"That's all a part of the story of not just the rise, but the fall of the [Hawaiian] kingdom," said Osorio.

As production expanded, American corporations producing sugar on the Islands sought to keep prices high and labor costs lower, hiring cheaper immigrant labor and lobbying for an immigration policy that would allow them to do so, historians say.

"While sugar did actually generate a great deal of income, most of that income really acted to sort of replace Native Hawaiians in the country," said Osorio.

Efforts to expand sugar production and house waves of imported labor pushed Native Hawaiians from their land, home, and island.

Throughout this time, laborers were organizing against low wages and poor benefits, and "the sugar companies began to lose a little bit of control. Everybody can sort of see that in the future, sugar is not going to be as profitable as it once was," according to Osorio.

However, World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 put labor rights efforts to a halt.

It wasn't until the late 1940s that workers began to make real concessions -- getting better benefits and salaries.

"Sugar companies really basically are looking at an industry that's not nearly as conducive to profits as it once was. Plus, in the post-war world, there's also new competition from places like the Philippines," Osorio added.

By the 1970s, more and more plantations were shutting down and they were moving toward using their lands for a tourist economy.

"Tourism would not exist at the scale that it exists today if it weren't for the takeover," Osorio said.

Vulnerability in tourism reliance

Following the wildfires on the West side, occupancy at the oceanfront condo resort Hana Kai Maui on the other side of the island was impacted almost immediately.

"We have always operated at a really high occupancy, almost like 95% year round. The day of the fires or the day after the fires, it was just such a downward slide," Pu said.

"We lost hundreds of 1000s of dollars in reservations over about a one-week period. And we're only a 17-unit business so it was a lot. We're recovering," she added.

Noah Drazkowski, who was born and raised in West Maui and owns a local business, told ABC News in a previous interview that he's been grieving alongside his community while looking for ways to keep his local business afloat.

"The majority of our income is from tourists, tourism, and I wish that we could say that we can survive on only the local community support," said Drazkowski.

Some business owners are torn about the future of tourism in Maui.

In 2022 alone, Hawaii saw nearly 10 million visitors, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islands saw roughly 2.7 million.

Now, approximately 70% of every dollar is generated directly or indirectly by the visitor industry, according to the Maui Economic Development Board.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how life in Hawaii could be without "overtourism," Osorio said.

"We started really seeing what happens to beaches and what happens to the ocean and what happens to mountain trails, hiking trails when they are free of so many people," said Osorio. "The quality of life in so many ways improves not [just for the people] but for other species that have depended on this environment for a long time."

Pu added: "We want tourists in Hawaii, but we also want to be able to live peacefully here and we want our forests to remain intact."

The impacts of tourism

Being a popular tourist destination comes with its challenges.

The Aloha State is experiencing one of the worst housing crises in America, with some of the highest housing costs in the nation and the fourth-highest rate of homelessness per capita in the country, according to the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

MORE: Hawaiian Electric CEO short on answers during House hearing on Maui wildfires

The U.S. has acknowledged its historical responsibility for causing this housing crisis among Native Hawaiians through its 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, a reparations policy that set aside land for Native communities after the violent displacement and removal of Native Hawaiians.

Parts of Maui have also been under a water conservation notice in recent years, as an intense drought and dry conditions limit the region's access to water. With hotels and resorts taking up their share of the water, some locals wish that water would be directed toward residents, especially following the deadly wildfire in which firefighters in Lahaina claimed that their hoses ran dry.

Politicians have been under pressure from some residents to look for a way to diversify the economy and for land to be given back to the Native Hawaiian population. As tourism comes back toward the disaster area, the conversation around tourism is unlikely to settle down.

"Our desire is to provide for ourselves so that we can properly feed ourselves, so that we can actually have places to live, so that we can protect the lands from misuse," said Osorio.

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Summer tourism bump going flat as fall nears

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Two catamarans land near the beach Friday at Royal Hawaiian Hotel beach in Waikiki. (Craig T. Kojima/ Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / [email protected]

Though July was a better month than most, statewide visitor arrivals in July were still only 93% of the pre-pandemic July 2019 level. Visitors on Thursday bobbed in the waves off Waikiki, above.

The late-summer travel boost seen by the state, which mostly affected Oahu, is already showing signs of cooling as Hawaii moves past the important Labor Day travel period into fall. Visitors sunned themselves Thursday on Waikiki Beach.

Though July was a better month than most, statewide visitor arrivals in July were still only 93% of the pre-pandemic July 2019 level. Visitors on Thursday strolled along Kalakaua Avenue, above.

Visitors on Friday take a selfie at the Halona Blowhole lookout in Oahu. (Craig T. Kojima/ Honolulu star-advertiser)

Visitors to Hawaii continued to decline in July, although the downturn was offset by strengthening in arrivals from Hawaii’s core U.S. West market and from Japan, Hawaii’s top international market.

But the late-summer travel boost, which mostly affected Oahu, is already showing signs of cooling as Hawaii moves past the important Labor Day travel period into fall. The Transportation Security Administration is preparing to screen a record volume of more than 17 million people nationwide from Thursday through Wednesday. The peak travel day is projected to be Friday, when TSA expects to screen 2.86 million people.

While summer travel to Hawaii has been down in the wake of the Maui wildfires, TSA had been expecting higher volumes of travelers for Hawaii, too. Still, members of Hawaii’s visitor industry say softness has been present in Hawaii’s visitor industry since the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires, and even in July, Maui’s more than 20% drop in visitor arrivals and nearly 18% decrease in spending were dragging down the statewide tourism performance, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

It’s been more than a year since the deadly wildfires that destroyed much of Lahaina, yet the dampening continues to affect tourism performance statewide. To be sure, arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands dropped 1% year over year to 925,935 visitors, DBEDT said. And, even though July was a better month than most, statewide visitor arrivals in July were still only 93% of the pre-pandemic July 2019 level.

And there’s another threat. Some 5,000 hotel workers belonging to Unite Here Local 5 have authorized a strike at the Sheraton Kauai Resort and seven Waikiki hotels: the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort; Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort &Spa; Moana Surfrider — a Westin Resort Spa; The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort; Sheraton Princess Kaiulani; Sheraton Waikiki; and the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort &Spa.

The union has not made its strike plan clear, but has the power to call for a walkout at any time. Hoteliers report that the threat alone already is disrupting bookings, along with Local 5’s phone campaign encouraging travelers, especially group travelers, to stay home.

An added complication is that the travelers who helped offset tourism losses to Hawaii in July with growth in arrivals and spending — Hawaii’s core U.S. West market and visitors from its top international market, Japan — are the least likely to cross a picket line.

July arrivals fell from Canada, cruise ships and the category called “All others,” which includes international markets outside of Japan and Canada. Spending fell for the U.S. East, cruise ships and Canada and was flat for the “All others” category, which includes foreign nations outside of Japan and Canada.

Total visitor spending measured in nominal dollars in July was nearly $2.07 billion, 2.6% higher than July 2023. Total visitor spending was 22% higher than in July 2019, when nominal spending was nearly $1.69 billion.

An issue with DBEDT’s spending data is that nominal numbers are not adjusted for inflation, so their real contribution to Hawaii’s economy has not been calculated.

Daniel Naho‘opi‘i, Hawai‘i Tourism Authority interim president and CEO, told the HTA board Thursday that HTA’s 2023 Annual Visitor Research Report, when 2023’s total nominal visitor spending of more than $20.8 billion is adjusted for inflation using the Hawaii Tourism Price Index, was actually 10% lower than total spending in 2019. The HTA reported nominal spending of $17.8 billion in 2019.

Also, visitors in July did not spend as much time vacationing in Hawaii, which tends to curb spending. DBEDT reported that the average length of stay by all visitors in July dropped 2.6% to 8.81 days, compared with 9.05 days in July 2023. On any given day in July, there were 273,051 visitors in the Hawaiian Islands, down 3.6% from July 2023, DBEDT said.

Results were mixed across the islands, with Oahu, Hawaii’s busiest visitor destination, posting the only arrivals increase of the major islands. Hawaii Hotel Alliance President Jerry Gibson said Oahu benefited from the biennial Rim of the Pacific — the world’s largest naval training exercise — which brought together forces from 29 nations.

“RIMPAC really helped Oahu. It was a boon to the economy. We got a lot of last-minute reservations, and that’s why Oahu arrivals were up 7.2% in July,” Gibson said. “But Maui is still hurting, and I can’t stress enough the importance of getting that welcoming messaging out there.”

Keith Vieira, principal of KV &Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said Hawaii’s visitor industry has put high hopes on the upcoming fall marketing saturation campaign, which is slated for Sept. 15-22 in Los Angeles, Hawaii’s top source market for visitors. HTA has put $1.6 million into the campaign, which will be executed by the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau. Vi­eira said he expects the private sector will fund another $40 million to $60 million in additional marketing to take Hawaii beyond the fall.

“If there’s any place people want to go, it’s Maui,” Vieira said. “That’s why they get the highest rates and have the biggest resorts. But we aren’t seeing the demand. The saturation campaign isn’t just for Maui, it’s for Hawaii. Every island needs the business until the Japanese business comes back. We are fortunate that Hawaii has done so well off the U.S. West Coast, but we need a more balanced mix. The U.S. West market is the least likely to come in a strike situation, and it’s the easiest market for travelers to rebook.”

State Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director James Kunane Tokioka said in a statement that the visitor industry is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and Maui wildfires, but noted that the July visitor statistics showed some reasons for encouragement.

“Visitor arrivals from the U.S. West market at more than half of a million in July 2024 were the highest during the past two years. The 66,557 visitors from Japan in July were the third highest since March 2020 for this market,” he said. “Visitation to the island of Maui continued to improve in July 2024 with 237,495 visitor arrivals — the highest since the wildfires — which represents a recovery rate of 79.9% from the pre-wildfire level.”

Tokioka added, “It is expected that visitor arrivals from the U.S. markets will remain above the 2019 levels for the remainder of the year and arrivals from Japan will continue recovering as the Japanese exchange rate has been improving during the past few weeks.”

Vieira said July was somewhat better than expected, “but that was then.”

He added that Hawaii’s visitor industry had hoped that after the anniversary of the Maui wildfires on Aug. 8 that the market would begin improving. However, he said, “It’s been more of the same.”

Gibson said although there’s some pickup in October, “booking pace has slowed to a crawl through the end of the third and fourth quarter, and there aren’t a lot of big group moments in between.”

“So far, the festive season, the holiday period from Dec. 22 to Jan. 4, has not picked up like the industry expected, and right now bookings are meager, to say the least,” he said.

If the slowing continues, the downward trajectory evident in DBEDT statistics at the seven-month mark could worsen. More than 5.7 million visitors arrived in the first seven months of 2024, a decline of 3.3% from the first seven months of 2023. Arrivals through July declined 7.5% when compared with nearly 6.2 million visitors in the first seven months of 2019.

In the first seven months of 2024, total nominal visitor spending was $12.33 billion, down 3.9% from the same period in 2023 but 16.9% higher than the first seven months of 2019.

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Hawaii travel update: john oliver discusses tourism, history, and future of hawaii in recent episode of last week tonight.

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John Oliver tackled some major issues facing Native Hawaiians, including tourism, in a recent ... [+] episode of Last Week Tonight.

The Hawaiian Islands have been in the national spotlight of late.

Earlier this month, Maui graced headlines on August 8th as the one-year anniversary of the Lahaina wildfires was observed, and prior to that, the amount of aid given to local residents came up on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience .

The latest media focus on the Aloha State comes from late-night host John Oliver, as he urged Americans to learn more about the history of Hawaiʻi and how tourism and multi-millionaires impact the local culture.

In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, he put together a major segment that addressed a wide range of topics and issues that were both funny, enlightening, and unfortunately sad due to their truthful and revealing nature.

The 30-minute episode kicks off with Oliver warming up by going through several pop-culture topics that skew American’s perception of the islands.

This included some bad cinema from Hawaiʻi Five-0 and the myth of the "cursed" lava rocks, which have been taken and then mailed back to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park in extremely large numbers by tourists. The myth is due to a made-up belief that the rocks are cursed by Madam Pele, the goddess of the volcano.

He then dives into more serious topics that have plagued the islands in recent months as well as the modern era in general: the Maui wildfires, the history of Hawaiʻi, increased development, the U.S. military footprint, the impacts of tourism, the local economy, and the reversal of Hawaiʻi’s food production, to name a few.

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Oliver gives large doses of his usual humor as he lays out these topics, but as the episode continues, one begins to see the sad reality of many of the current local issues and how they are negatively effecting Native Hawaiians.

Many celebrities who have purchased land in Hawaiʻi—and at times clashed with locals—are also brought into question, including Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey.

The end of the episode is especially powerful, when Oliver discusses the idea of visiting Hawaiʻi as a tourist and how the industry as a whole effects the islands.

Oliver concedes that it’s reasonable to visit Hawaiʻi as a tourist. However, when doing so, he asserts that it's best to make sure you understand the place you are visiting.

Take the time to familiarize yourself with the local history and people, and be a considerate guest, he says. (This logic can be applied to any place in the world, of course, but is especially relevant in Hawaiʻi, where local culture has historically taken a back seat to visitor preferences.)

For example, Hawaiʻi has beaches and hikes that are fun to enjoy, he says, but good travelers will be sure to understand the complete picture.

“If you do end up visiting, try to be aware of the history you are stepping into, a history, I realize, most of us were never taught,” Oliver said. "And remember that your vacation spot is also someone else's home."

You can stream the entire episode of Last Week Tonight on Hawaiʻi for free on Youtube .

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Our Strategic Plan

At the start of 2020, we introduced a six-year strategic plan to guide our vision and our responsibilities in support of Hawai‘i tourism through 2025.

HTA has been reorganized around four interacting “Pillars” supported by research and other administrative functions. This plan establishes a general goal for each Pillar.

NATURAL RESOURCES Respect for Our Natural & Cultural Resources

Dedicate resources to programs that enhance and support Hawai‘i's natural resources and cultural sites to improve the quality of life for all of Hawai‘i’s residents and to enhance the visitor experience.

HAWAIIAN CULTURE Support Native Hawaiian Culture & Community

Hooulu (grow) the uniqueness and integrity of the Native Hawaiian culture and community through genuine experiences for both visitors and residents.

COMMUNITY Ensure Tourism & Communities Enrich Each Other

Work to make sure residents and local communities benefit from tourism by supporting programs valued by the community and aligned with the destination’s brand and image; informing both residents and visitors of these programs and events; strengthening relations between residents and visitors; and forming partnerships to build a resilient tourism workforce and community.

BRAND MARKETING Strengthen Tourism’s Contributions

Take the lead in protecting and enhancing Hawai‘i’s globally competitive brand in a way that is coordinated, authentic, and market-appropriate; is focused on Hawai‘i’s unique cultures, diverse communities, and natural environment; and supports Hawai‘i's economy.

Under the goal for each Pillar, this plan establishes several objectives and specific milestones or measures for tracking success. The Pillars are intended to support an integrated destination management system, with four overall Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), representing the most important ways HTA will be accountable to our stakeholders:

• Resident Satisfaction
• Average Daily Visitor Spending
• Visitor Satisfaction
• Total Visitor Spending

View HTA’s 2020 – 2025 Strategic Plan here:  ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i  /  English

Maʻemaʻe Toolkit

To help market Hawai‘i authentically, browse through a resource of Hawaiian language tools, style and information guides, cultural activities and festivals, and other pertinent information.

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Partnership Opportunities

HTA's Global Marketing Team offers a variety of consumer, travel trade, and MCI marketing opportunities. Partnership opportunities include digital and social media marketing, public relations, travel trade, and meeting sales programs.

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Read the latest announcements that provide up-to-date information about current HTA's programs, events and activities.

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