Welcome back to another episode of the TravelPulse Podcast!
28.09.2023 - 20:13 / forbes.com / Richard Bissen / On Maui
The lead story this morning on one of Oahu’s most trusted news sources, Civil Beat, is about the campaign Hawaii’s tourism executives are leading to convince residents that the return of visitors is imperative for Maui’s recovery.
The story focused on a webinar, attended by nearly 70 local reps, entitled “Restoring Tourism After Disaster,” hosted by a former New Orleans tourism executive who led the city’s tourism recovery after Hurricane Katrina.
It also highlighted several local campaigns and their messaging to bring visitors back to Maui, including efforts by Hawaiian Airlines and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, as well as how to deal with backlash, which is “inevitable,” the executive explained.
“There are going to be people who hate your guts no matter what, and you’re not going to change that,” the New Orleans executive told her Hawaii-based attendants.
You should read the story in its entirety, but the gist of it is a message we often see in tourism recovery. Residents are told by tourism executives: I know you are suffering, because I am too, but if we don’t get the economy going again, you will suffer even more, believe me.
Of course, the quiet part they don’t say out loud at the end is that their job depends on it, but fair enough - Maui’s economy is indeed currently based on tourism and, though it’s difficult to estimate how much tourism revenue stays in the state given all the national and international chains that operate in Hawaii, it’s safe to say that the return of tourism could help ease some economic woes, including those of small and local businesses.
But is a “return to normalcy” what Lahaina residents want? After all, they are the victims in this disaster, the ones who lost their homes and their loved ones - 2,000 structures and 97 people in total. And it’s not like things were peachy keen before: Hawaii’s struggles with tourism have been well documented.
Anyone who watched or attended the Maui City Council meeting yesterday knows that many people want change. Hundreds of residents showed up to push back against the reopening of tourism, many calling it too soon in light of more important local issues, like schooling and long-term housing.
“We are not ready for the tourists to come back right now,” said Naiwi Teru, a Lahaina resident. “You’re going to spit the tourists in front of us before the keiki (kids) go back to school, it’s really, really demoralizing. And that’s why we [are] angry.”
Some concerns seemed to be addressed earlier in the day when Maui’s Mayor Richard Bissen broke with Hawaii’s governor and announced a plan for a phased reopening of West Maui, instead of the all-at-once reopening previously planned for October 8th.
But residents also articulated their long-term
Welcome back to another episode of the TravelPulse Podcast!
In the immediate aftermath of disaster, authorities and travel operators have to coordinate repatriations, evacuations and displaced communities quickly and safely, while reduced visitor numbers can have a crippling effect on local businesses. For many of these destinations, a reliance on tourism only adds to the complexity of their recovery efforts. But with the right mindset and action, travellers can, in fact, be a part of the solution.
Big things are happening over at Maui Gold Pineapple and holding strong at the helm is general manager, Rudy Balala. In the pineapple industry for 45 years, Balala says the industry has changed remarkably since he began his career in 1979 as a seasonal field worker for Maui Land and Pineapple (MLP) at age 14. “The canning of pineapple was once a large part of Maui’s economy, employing several thousand residents and at one point, there were about 10,000 acres of pineapple growing on different parts of the island,” Balala says.
Spurring controversy locally but undoubtedly a necessary step for the economy, the reopening of iconic hotels in West Maui is underway, with different dates set for each hotel.
Yesterday on October 8th, exactly two months after a wildfire destroyed the town of Lahaina, visitors were officially welcomed back to parts of Maui’s west coast.
Two months after wildfires on the western shores of Maui killed 97 people, destroyed the historic town of Lahaina and burned more than 2,100 acres, a state order discouraging travel to the area was lifted on Sunday. But whether local hotels and businesses plan to welcome visitors remains uncertain.
Tourism is slowly coming back to Maui as the Hawaiian government starts to lift travel restrictions to the western region, two months after devastating wildfires that left nearly 100 dead and displaced thousands of people.
Hawaiians have delivered a petition asking to delay tourism reopening following the summer wildfires.
The mayor of the Hawaiian island of Maui detailed the phased reopening of West Maui set to begin this weekend following the devastating fires this summer.
When President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act on August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the last state to join the union.
Loyalty is strong. But loyalty is fragile.
We’ve known for some time now that West Maui would reopen to tourists on October 8th.