Josh Green travel tips

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.

As TPG has previously reported, and you likely know all too well, the Maui wildfires caused significant damage to Lahaina, with more than 2,400 residences destroyed and far too many lives lost. Recovery efforts are still ongoing. And now, the community must deal with the reality of economic recovery while also rebuilding homes and businesses and managing the emotional toll.

From just outside the burn zone in Lahaina, Jes Claydon can see the ruins of the rental home where she lived for 13 years and raised three children. Little remains recognizable beyond the jars of sea glass that stood outside the front door.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green has been a busy man.

Maui’s tourism recovery has been moving at a sluggish pace since the wildfires devastated the island’s western region in early August. One factor: Tourists have been slow to return out of sensitivity to locals.

As the plane descends to Maui’s airport in Kahului, it’s readily apparent how sharply tourism has dropped off following the massive fires a month ago: hundreds of unrented rental cars parked in a field near the runway. In the aftermath of the blaze that leveled the historic town of Lahaina and caused so much personal suffering and loss, it was understandable for Hawaii’s Governor Josh Green to advise visitors not to come to Maui. Now facing the financial devastation of an island that depends on tourism, the government changed its position and is urging visitors to come, including to the resort areas of West Maui north of Lahaina which are reopening October 8th. But should visitors listen?

West Maui will officially welcome visitors again next month following the devastating wildfires that swept the paradise destination in August.

Hawaii will reopen most of West Maui to tourists starting on October 8, Governor Josh Green announced on Friday. Only Lahaina will be remained closed to the public. Tourists will be able to visit Kā‘anapali, Nāpili, Honokōwai, and Kapalua.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green announced last week that West Maui’s hotels and resorts would reopen to visitors as soon as October 8th.

Governor Josh Green, M.D., today declared in a statewide address that the West Maui communities of Kā‘anapali, Nāpili, Honokōwai, and Kapalua will fully reopen on Sunday, October 8, two months after the August 8 wildfires that destroyed Lahaina.

After the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority initially asked all tourists to leave the island of Maui, Governor Josh Green invited visitors back to the island just two weeks later, citing the need for economic recovery.

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler said tourists should keep visiting Maui, during the band's first The Farewell Tour concert in Philadelphia on Saturday. 

Catastrophic wildfires on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii destroyed homes and forced tens of thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate last month. As of August 29, The New York Times reported 115 confirmed fatalities. 

Travelers are welcome elsewhere on Maui and other Hawaiian islands.

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

On Thursday, the Hawaii Tourism Authority was officially excluded from the state budget and now has to request funds from the state’s budgeting and finance department. The governor and legislature will vet the funding requests, putting the agency under their scrutiny. 

In the days immediately following the disastrous wildfire on Maui that has seen more than 100 people pronounced dead and nearly a thousand others still missing, the Hawaii Tourism Authority - Hawaii’s state-run tourism board - asked people not to travel to Maui.

Tourists wonder if traveling to Maui is safe and considerate after the devastating wildfires. After all, several local communities are still searching for missing loved ones, and the cleanup process has just begun. The tourism-dependent economy remains open, but some travel plan adjustments might be necessary.

As smoke rolled over their Lahaina neighborhood, Akanesi Vaa, her husband, and their three kids rushed to their car. The clear blue sky went grey, then black, in what seemed like a few heartbeats. Homes burned around them. Intense heat radiated through the car doors. Then came a banging at the window, as an elderly woman pleaded, “Please help me, I have a baby.” Vaa looked for a way forward: Should she keep moving to get her kids out of harm’s way, or stop to help this elder?

As Hawai’i continues to rebuild from the devastating and deadly wildfires that swept through the western region of Maui, the state’s leadership is encouraging travel to the other islands and even parts of Maui that were not affected by the wildfires. In a news conference this week, Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green and its tourism board advised travelers that they're still welcome to visit the other islands of Hawaii. “Like we saw in the pandemic, decisions we made can affect everyone across the islands. So what we’re saying now is travel should not be to West Maui. But the other parts of Maui are safe,” Green said at the press event.

In early 2020, with state health officials downplaying signs of the coming pandemic, Josh Green, who was then Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, went outside the political pecking order and called the White House himself to ask for a temporary ban on cruise ships, a linchpin of Hawaii’s economy.