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Respectful travel to any of the Hawaiian Islands, including the accessible areas of Maui, is welcomed and encouraged, now more than ever. With the exception of Lahaina, West Maui accommodations have begun to reopen to visitors again.
While the pandemic pummeled Hawaii in its early stages, the Aloha State's tourism industry is back, and by some metrics, bigger than ever. The number of tourists from the U.S. mainland is higher than it was before the pandemic — and average spending per trip is also higher.
Here's why. Fodor's Travel named Maui one of 10 destinations on its 2023 “No List” that tourists should reconsider visiting this year. The travel publication outlined 10 regions ranging from Antarctica to Italy that are threatened by environmental damage caused by overtourism and climate change.
In August 2023, visitor arrivals to Oahu (507,702 visitors, +11.0%), Hawaii Island (152,951, +4.1%) and Kauai (131,628 visitors, +9.0%) increased while visitor arrivals to Maui (112,259 visitors, -57.8%) dropped significantly compared to August 2022.
It reached a boiling point in 2019, when Hawaii's 1.5 million residents watched it become a case study in overtourism amid 10.4 million annual arrivals.
Is Hawaii still struggling with tourism? The state's tourism board is on the brink of collapse — along with its helpful policies on managing foot traffic to Hawaii's most beautiful and sacred sites. Tourist arrivals in Hawaii are near pre-pandemic levels as the industry works to manage the impact.
Remember: friendly locals and a solid police presence around downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach makes these areas largely very safe for tourists at night.
Some Lahaina residents will be allowed into their neighborhood on Monday to see what is left of their homes, for the first time since wildfires swept across parts of Maui on Aug.8 and killed at least 97 people, making it one of the nation's deadliest disasters.
October 8, 2023Respectful travel to any of the Hawaiian Islands, including the accessible areas of Maui, is welcomed and encouraged, now more than ever. With the exception of Lahaina, West Maui accommodations have begun to reopen to visitors again.
Hawaii Island: There were 161,172 visitors to Hawaii Island in March 2023, compared to 141,854 visitors (+13.6%) in March 2022, and 161,087 visitors (+0.1%) in March 2019. Visitor spending was $236.9 million in March 2023, compared to $217.3 million (+9.1%) in March 2022, and $200.7 million (+18.0%) in March 2019.
Once owned by Royalty, Niihau was purchased from King Kamehameha in 1864 and up to 1987, visits to the island were typically restricted to the owners and their guests, or government officials, which is how it gained its moniker; “The Forbidden Island”.
Hawaii was made a territory in 1900, and Dole became its first governor. Racial attitudes and party politics in the United States deferred statehood until a bipartisan compromise linked Hawaii's status to Alaska, and both became states in 1959.
A resounding 87% of survey respondents expect to travel at least as much as they did in the prior year, with 49% selecting that they expect to travel more. This is especially true among younger respondents, with 59% of those between the ages of 18 to 26 planning to travel more in 2023.
The percentage of Americans traveling for one or more summer holiday weekends has increased from 67% in 2022 to 80% in 2023, with 54% of travelers going somewhere for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, 49% going somewhere for Memorial Day, and 41% traveling for Labor Day weekend.
Generally, low season — late April, May, September, and October — offers the best weather, fewer crowds, and affordability across the board. High season (December through March) coincides with whale season; sightings are particular spectacular near Hilo Bay and the Kohala Coast.
A: Wildfires have mainly affected Lahaina in West Maui. All non-essential travel to West Maui (including Lahaina, Napili, Ka'anapali, and Kapalua) is strongly discouraged for the duration of Governor Green?s sixth emergency proclamation (through October 17, 2023) issued on August 19.
In 2023, I expect that to reverse and year-over-year fares to fall. With China—the last major country with covid travel restrictions—poised to reopen on January 8, I'm anticipating a huge uptick in transpacific flights (which are currently down 50% compared to 2019). More competition = cheaper fares.
Maui residents have remained consistent that visitors should avoid all of West Maui, which continues to be a hub for displaced families. Hotels there are housing more than 5,000 people who are not tourists, including families who lost homes, government relief officials, aid organizations and cleanup crews.
Whether you like it or not, tourism is the main engine of our economy here on Maui. During COVID, we had lofty utopian thoughts of diversifying away from tourism, but it hasn't happened and would take far too long for our residents to survive financially.