How can tourists help Maui recover? Here’s what locals say.

05.09.2023 - 22:01 / nationalgeographic.com / Ilihia Gionson

LiAnne Driessen had moved into her grandparents’ home in Lāhainā four years ago, a home destroyed in the August 8 wildfires that razed the historic coastal town and killed at least 115 people. Everything—except for a mango tree her kūpuna (grandparents) had planted from a seed 50 years ago—is gone.

Now the Native Hawaiian wife and mother of two faces losing the Maui-based sailboat tour company that her family started 50 years ago. It had been booking 80 to 90 snorkel and dinner sails a week. Overnight, she says, it lost 80 percent of its business. Her husband, a first mate and captain-in-training, had to be laid off. “We’re barely hanging in there,” says Driessen. “It’s scary. We barely survived COVID.”

Livelihoods across one of Hawaiʻi’s most popular islands are suffering as a result of one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in a century. According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, about three million tourists visit Maui each year, spending about $5.4 billion. Before the wildfires, about 8,000 people were arriving on Maui each day. Now, it’s around 2,000.

After advising travelers to stay away, lawmakers, tourism officials, businesses, and even residents are now urging them to visit—mindfully.

“We are definitely hoping visitors come back,” says Wisa Miller, who works at Aliʻi Kula Lavender, a 13.5-acre lavender farm that offers tours and runs a gift shop. “I know people on the outside are confused because some social media posts say to stay away and others saying to come. Our island is reliant upon tourism. We need resources to get back on our feet right now.”

But traveling currently to Maui is complicated. It may seem insensitive to sip a mai tai at a hotel pool in Wailea, but every dollar a visitor spends on the island helps its economy, explains Ilihia Gionson, public affairs officer for the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

“People have lost everything, and now they’re losing their jobs,” Gionson says. “Maui has an economy, for better or worse, that right now is very dependent on visitor spending. Shopping at local shops, eating at local restaurants that support local farmers, doing activities run by small local businesses—those dollars are directly supporting the residents; they are directly keeping local people employed.”

In the days after the wildfire, Hawai‘i issued an advisory discouraging nonessential travel to West Maui—including Lāhainā—through October 17. Locals took to social media pleading to visitors to cancel their trips. Tourists have heeded the warning, canceling vacations and staying away. But the result is a dramatic economic downturn that’s crippling Maui’s ability to recover.

(Lāhainā was a glittering jewel of the Hawaiian kingdom.)

“We also have to