Jason Momoa travel tips

As the rescue and recovery effort continues in the aftermath of wildfires that swept portions of the island of Maui, the local tourism board and airlines are asking travelers to reconsider their travel to the island.  “Vacation travel to West Maui is strongly discouraged for the near future. Visitors in West Maui have largely heeded the call to leave the island. About 46,000 people have flown out of Kahului Airport since Wednesday,” the Hawaii Tourism Authority shared in a news release.

Thousands of Maui residents have filed for unemployment after wildfires devastated part of the island and tourism plummeted, leading many local business owners to urge visitors to come back.

The incongruous sight of tourists enjoying Maui's tropical beaches while search-and-rescue teams trawl building ruins for victims has outraged some residents.

Saudi Arabia has the largest hotel construction activity in the Middle East and Africa region, followed by United Arab Emirates, according to hotel research firm STR. Saudi Arabia topped the regional list with 42,033 hotel rooms, followed by United Arab Emirates with 22,324 rooms, as per March 2023 pipeline data report from STR. Most of the region’s pipeline activity is focused in the Middle East, STR said. In March, around 119,505 rooms were under construction in the Middle East and Africa, which is down 6 percent compared to March 2022. STR further noted that each of the four world regions — Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas — showed a year-over-year decline in hotel construction activity, with Asia Pacific coming closest to its 2022 comparable. However, the picture is more positive for the Middle East and Africa. The region has 45,529 rooms in the “final planning stage,” up 20 percent year-on-year, while the rooms in the “planning stage” have gone up to 84,116, an increase of 21.2 percent year-on-year.

Some tourists have been encouraged to cancel their planned trips to Maui after fires devastated parts of the island, but one food truck owner said telling tourists to stay away could do more harm than good.

When tourists to Hawaii had their vacations interrupted last week as fires ravaged Maui, killing at least 110 people, some took it better than others.

While locals in Maui, Hawaii, struggle to reckon with record-setting wildfires that burned homes, livelihoods, and entire neighborhoods to the ground, some say recovery is being made more painful by tourists visiting the island on vacation.

Jason Momoa, a Hawaii native and actor, is warning people against visiting Maui as wildfires devastate the Hawaiian island.