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Hawaii Travel Update: Breaking Down The Debate Over The October 8th Reopening Of West Maui
18.09.2023 - 23:17 / forbes.com / Josh Green
It’s been ten days since Hawaii’s governor announced that West Maui would reopen to tourists on October 8th, but the debate seems to just be heating up now.
While there was initial pushback on the announcement, things escalated this weekend when a petition requesting the government to reconsider garnered thousands of signatures online and caught the eye of local media outlets.
Wondering where we are and how we got here? Let’s take a look at both sides of the situation.
In planning the reopening of West Maui, the government has said multiple times that it comes in response to economic realities, where a failure to reopen would cause deepening unemployment (currently, thousands on Maui are unemployed) as well as the continued loss of tourism revenue that would cause further damage to Maui.
In making his decision, Governor Josh Green cited calls from businesses and tourism partners, who cannot make a living with the area closed and so few visitors coming to Maui.
“I know what a terrible disaster that was. But now we’re in crisis mode,” one business owner told the AP. “If we can’t keep the people that have jobs employed, how are they going to help family members and friends that lost everything?”
Recently, the state estimated that it would lose $2 billion in revenue as a result of the wildfire.
The government has also said that its desire to build a road map to recovery, with specific dates, is designed to bring hope for the future, as opposed to the pandemic recovery, when timelines were vague and people were unsure of when things would return to normal.
“Beginning October 8, all travel restrictions will end and West Maui will be open to visitors again, so people from Hawaiʻi and around the world can resume travel to this special place and help it begin to recover economically,” Green said in a statement. “This difficult decision is meant to bring hope for recovery to the families and businesses on Maui that have been so deeply affected in every way by the disaster.”
However, some residents feel the reopening date is too soon because it leaves displaced residents in a state of limbo while prioritizing visitors. They also say that many residents aren’t ready to go back to work due to feelings of confliction and grief.
More than 7,000 displaced residents who lost their homes in the wildfire are currently staying in temporary lodging, including West Maui hotels, with no set plan for their relocation or long-term housing.
“Once I heard October 8, I was in shock,” one grieving Lahaina resident, who lost both his home and loved ones in the wildfire, told KHON2. “And it turned to anger because we were making accommodations for tourism, but we cannot even make accommodations for displaced residents such as such
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