Maui tips

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

Tourists have remained unsure whether Maui is ready to welcome them after its painful recovery from last August’s wildfires. So Hawaii’s tourism agency launched a marketing campaign last week to reassure them that the entire island is open for business.

Maui locals voiced their frustration with tourism promotion at a community meeting held by the Hawaiia Tourism Authority on Monday. Participants were upset about accommodating tourists as wildfire survivors are still in need of housing.

Hawaii is looking for ways to help those displaced by the Lahaina wildfire in August, and Maui mayor Richard Bissen has proposed tax incentives to turn short-term rentals into long-term housing.

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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.

Maui Ocean Center is open and ready to welcome back kamaʻāina and visitors seeking comfort following last week’s devastating wildfires. The park — which closed briefly last week as employees helped those displaced by the fires — is now open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Mahalo for everyone’s support, actions and donations to those who suffered so much here on Maui,” said Tapani Vuori, general manager of Maui Ocean Center. “Our community is now shifting from response mode to recovery mode. As we focus on the displaced, we are now also looking at the broader Maui community. An employed Maui is a resilient Maui. Many of our local businesses depend on the visitor community, and as that dwindles, the hardships on our island multiply. We need the resources to manage the long-term efforts it will take to restore our island community.”

The deadly wildfires on the island of Maui are likely to affect visitor — and airline — demand to the island for the “foreseeable future,” analysts at T.D. Cowen said Friday.

The healing from the tragedy in Maui will take time and residents are debating whether to encourage more tourism. Many officials and those in the industry are stressing that tourists are still welcome in parts of Maui and the rest of Hawaii and that the economic recovery is critical.

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Expedia Group’s vacation rental brand Vrbo for the first time reversed its traditional guest refund policy, and is mandating that hosts refund guests in Maui.

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.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with 41-year-old Javier Cantellops, who owns three businesses in Maui, Hawaii: Sting J Maui , Island Style Diving , and Maui Dreams Dive Co . His businesses are based in Kihei, where he also lives. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

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.

A couple who were in Maui with their baby while the wildfires were raging described getting scammed while trying to arrange flights home.

In the throes of responding to the Maui wildfires that razed the celebrated town of Lahaina and claimed over 110 lives, Hawaii remains mostly open for tourism, despite the misgivings of both residents and tourists.

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.