A transformative trend to explore beyond well-trodden tourism areas and attractions in major urban destinations is gaining momentum, fueled by travelers of all generations who are seeking more experiences that are true to local culture.
31.10.2023 - 21:31 / skift.com / Dawit Habtemariam
Maui’s western region will be fully reopened to tourism on Wednesday. Yet the recovery of the island as a whole remains uncertain two months after a wildfire devastated Lahaina and left nearly 100 people dead.
“It’s still slow right now, and we know that come November 1st, the reservations won’t be coming in fast and furious,” said Sherry Duong, executive director of Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau. “It’s going to be a slow trickle.”
Scheduled airline seats for the months ahead remain below their 2022 level. Total domestic air seats to Maui are down 23% in November and 21% in December, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
After the August 8 wildfire in West Maui, the region was closed to visitors to allow for clean-up, a search for survivors, and respect for grieving residents.
About 70% of every dollar in Maui County is directly or indirectly generated from tourism, according to the Maui Economic Development Tourism Board.
Tourism to the whole island, which drives roughly 40% of its economic revenue from tourism, plummeted.
The nosedive has stopped. But it likely won’t move in a positive direction for quite some time.
“Booking trends stabilized in the weeks that followed, and cancellations have abated, but it will be a while yet before demand fully returns to the robust levels we saw earlier in the summer,” said Peter R. Ingram, Hawaiian Holdings president and CEO, during a third-quarter earnings call.
Some financial executives are optimistic about December, a peak tourism season.
“I do believe you will start to see activity start to come back over the holidays, maybe not as soon as Thanksgiving, but probably over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays,” said Robert Scott Harrison, CEO and president of First Hawaiian Bank, during an earnings call.
Today on Maui #westmaui #maui #sunset #hawaii #waves
The November 1 opening signals to employees and businesses that they could start to generate revenue again.
Roughly 8,000 residents across the island are out of work, and many residents have had to migrate, said Duong.
Amid the quick reopening, most of the 3,000 displaced residents staying in Kalaipuli hotels will not become homeless. Local officials are looking for long-term housing for them. Some of the displaced whose homes didn’t burn down are waiting for their homes to be cleaned up of smoke left by the fire, said Duong.
The previous plan was to open the region in three phases. Phase 1 started on October 8 for select island areas. But that didn’t do much to speed things up for West Maui.
“I spoke with my general manager partners that were from Kapalua to Kahana, and all of those accommodations between all of them, they only had 30 reservations,” said Duong.
Residents assumed there
A transformative trend to explore beyond well-trodden tourism areas and attractions in major urban destinations is gaining momentum, fueled by travelers of all generations who are seeking more experiences that are true to local culture.
Tours and activities operators in Asia expect at least another 6 to 12 months of pent-up travel demand. However, maximizing this opportunity depends on addressing capacity bottlenecks, especially in markets like Japan.
The world watched – and mourned – as wildfires destroyed the town of Lahaina, Maui back on that fateful day of August 8. And many surrounding areas, including Kula. But thankfully, there are many areas of Maui that were completely untouched. If you’re considering going on vacation or planning a Christmas holiday in the next few months, make sure to consider Maui, with its inimitable beaches – and famous rainbows.
If you’re visiting Kaanapali now or in the near future, you may find yourself in the midst of a protest that could impact your ability to enjoy the popular West Maui beach, where the majority of the island’s resorts and hotels are located.
Through a variety of fundraising efforts including mileage donations and collection boxes from customers and employees in Japan and throughout the U.S. including Hawaii and the mainland, Japan Airlines raised over $132,000 to support relief and recovery efforts for communities affected by the devastating Maui wildfires that occurred in August 2023. The airline held a check presentation ceremony to the Hawaii Community Foundation on November 2 at the Governor’s Ceremony Room at the Hawaii State Capitol building.
After one of the most devastating wildfires in US history ripped through West Maui in early August, the island is preparing to fully reopen to tourists starting November 1.
It’s been a wild ride for travel investors this year. After a strong rally to start the year, travel stocks are now on pace to close 2023 in a bear market. The Skift Travel 200, which tracks the stock market performance of the global travel industry, captures the whiplash shareholders have experienced.
Less than three months after a deadly wildfire destroyed the town of Lahaina, all hotels in West Maui are now back open to the public.
On October 19, the U.S. Department of State issued a rare advisory that Americans overseas “exercise increased caution” due to heightened tensions and chances of terrorism around the world, spurred by the Israel-Hamas war. It’s part of a system of travel warnings that’s been around in some form since 1978, designed to help citizens assess how safe a destination might be at a given time.
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We recently visited Maui in the aftermath of the devastating August wildfires in nearby Lahaina town, which was destroyed. The Ritz-Carlton, in the posh resort area of Kapalua, was untouched, thankfully, and had just re-opened on our visit in mid-October. You very well may want to put the resort on your radar screen, especially with the holiday season fast approaching. For sure, it will welcome you with the famous aloha spirit that the AAA Five-Diamond Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua is famous for. And wouldn’t you love to see Santa on his surfboard?
Here is important travel news that everyone should know — the intoxicatingly beautiful island of Maui in Hawaii – our 50th state – is open and making a concerted effort to welcome compassionate travelers to the island right now. This comes in the wake of the devastating August wildfires that recently destroyed the town of Lahaina and surrounding areas. I consider this news as important, because so much discussion that we’ve heard of Maui on the mainland has been to a large extent misinformed and under the wrong impression: Many people believe that the entire island of Maui was affected by the wildfires, and as a result, there arose a misconception that the entire island was closed. Many people believe that they cannot visit Maui at all, and as a result, many could cancel long-planned trips to the island.