Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority heard this message at Maui public meeting: Prioritize locals over visitors

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority held a public meeting in Kahului on Monday night to present its draft report “Tourism Support for Mauiʻs Recovery” — and to listen to ideas, recommendations, concerns and questions.

What the state agency’s staff and board members heard from the majority of more than 200 people in attendance and on Zoom was this message: Prioritize locals over visitors.

“Please, these local people from the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom need housing. This should be everyone’s priority on Maui,” said the first speaker, a teacher who called herself “Miss Lizzie.”

“We are ʻohana. Give us this ability to cook, educate, work, garden and live our culture in our home. I am asking you to prioritize people over profit, Hawaiian culture and community, which is what you guys say that you are into.”

The draft plan was developed for the purpose of how best to respond to the Tourism Emergency Declaration issued on Aug. 19 by Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green, and spend $5 million in emergency funds, over the next year.

While the fires directly affected a small area of Maui, the entire island and State of Hawaiʻi have also been dealing with the economic fallout.

The Monday public meeting at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center was the only one scheduled during the 15-day comment period about the draft report that ends Dec. 15. The public input will be incorporated into the final report that goes before the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Board of Directors on Dec. 21 for approval. To provide comment, click here.

The meeting began with a 40-minute presentation by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority about its overall mission and the draft report, which includes strategies and actions to revitalize visitation to all non-impacted parts of Maui and help small businesses affected by the loss of tourism.

Before the fires struck, the tourism authority already had pivoted to a more regenerative tourism at the urging of residents across the state.

Regenerative tourism aims to bring transformational experiences to guests while making sure cultural heritage and traditions are conserved and respected. It was branded “Mālama Hawaiʻi.” Mālama means take care of, preserve and protect in the Hawaiian language.

But as a result of the issues caused by the fire disaster, Chief Administrative Officer Daniel Nāho‘opi‘i said the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority is “pivoting somewhat again. Weʻre calling it ‘Mālama Maui’ now. How can we as the visitor industry Mālama Maui, and support your needs … and address your issues and concerns?’

On Aug. 31, the tourism authorityʻs board approved $2.6 million to fund the Maui Marketing Recovery Plan that centered around the new Mālama Maui campaign, which prioritized rebuilding travel demand from the United States, Maui’s largest visitor source market.

The message to tourists including be respectful, especially on the West Side where workers and residents are still recovering from the trauma and devastation of the fire, and could be living in the room next to them in a hotel.

The presentation also showed that supporting housing is one of six recommendations to be acted upon in 2024 by the tourism authority. But many at the public meeting were angered by its prioritization at the very bottom of the list.

The recommendations in the report:

• 1A: Increase the visibility and call to action for travel to Hawai‘i targeting high-potential markets.
• 1B: Support businesses to continue providing a consistent message that Maui is open for visitors.
• 2. Support and encourage consistent messaging and outreach to Maui residents, visitor industry stakeholders and businesses.
• 3. Support Maui small businesses that are experiencing significant reductions in sales because of lower number of visitors on island.
• 4. Expand tourism product on Maui to provide new activities for visitors and support Maui businesses.
• 5. Support providing longer-term housing for wildfire-impacted households living in visitor-type accommodations by assisting with communications efforts to transient vacation rental owners.

“So when you talk about all this, No. 5 is housing. You want our people to help the tourists when after just this past week, 600 people were moved out of the Westin and all the tourists were rolling up in their rentals. … Our people are suffering,” said one woman who did not identify herself.

Almost everyone who spoke did not come with ideas or recommendations about how to help the “tourism emergency,” but wanted to deal with the “housing emergency” by stopping — or limiting — visitors to West Maui while thousands of displaced Lahaina residents were still living in hotels.

Many were still angry by Gov. Green’s decision to begin the return of tourism to the unaffected areas of West Maui on Oct. 8, just two months after the fire.

They wanted the tourists to stop booking the available Airbnbs and vacation rentals that could be used for their temporary housing. They were tired of living in hotels and other temporary places, many having moved several times, for the four months after the fires and with the holiday season underway.

The people who came had so much to say that the comment period lasted an hour longer than scheduled, after Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez asked the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority representatives to stay longer to hear out the people who had traveled from Lahaina.

Paele Kiakona, a leader of the “Fishing for Lahaina” movement that has been taking placing for nearly a month at Kāʻanapali Beach said: “Weʻve been sleeping on the beach, demanding dignified housing for our people, right in the heart of Whalers Village.

“Just feet away, we see our people crying, begging for help, don’t know what to do, don’t know where to go. And you go take 10 steps in the opposite direction, yeah, and you see the tourists gallivanting, having the time of their life.”

He said the tourists have told him the message they got at home before coming to Hawaiʻi was “Maui needs your help. Maui needs your money. Please come and spend it here. That’s the messaging they got. There was very little about respect.”

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority created the plan after about 15 meetings of the Disaster Response Permitted Interaction Group, which was led by Board Vice Chair Mahina Paishon Duarte and sought input from industry and community leaders on Maui and across the state. The agency hired consulting firm SMS Hawaii to help with the strategic plan, which also took into account economic data.

The immediate economic losses after the fires were one reason for the emergency declaration about tourism, the premiere contributor to the stateʻs economy.

In the latest available data, in October Maui visitors spent $326.2 million, which was down almost $110 million from October of 2022. There also was 97,600 fewer arrivals from a year ago (132,908 in October 2023 compared to 230,512 in October 2022).

But what also is troubling is upcoming bookings for Maui is down for next year through October, compared to 2022, according to the Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau.

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority cited a rapid needs assessment preliminary report from the Hawaiʻi Department of Public Health that said: “Over a third of wildfire survivor households ranked financial recovery and finding employment as their greatest need.”

The tourism authorityʻs draft report added: “The longer a householdʻs primary wage earner is unemployed, the greater the likelihood they will leave the island.”

In October, unemployment on Maui dropped a little to 7.4%, but it was nearly 5% higher than in July before the fires when it was only 2.8%.

“At a high level, too many people are too close to the edge, and that’s what kind of drives our work,” said T. Ilihia Gionson, public affairs officer with the tourism authority. “To think about how we can help? How tourism can help? Again, tourism is not everything, but what’s tourism’s role in contributing?”

With the loss of much of Lahaina, which had been Maui’s tourist mecca, the No. 4 recommendation on the plan was to expand tourism on other parts of the island and with new regenerative tourism activities. This includes:

• Introducing visitors to areas they may not have seen before, such as Upcountry, East Maui, Pāʻia, Makawao and Kīhei, and the activities, restaurants and small businesses that are available there. 
• Encourage small farmers, fishermen and business owners to band together to provide a product that can be “sold” to tour companies, hotels and restaurants. For example, no one will promote a “work in the lo‘i” activity that is only available once a week, but by working together, 5 to 7 farmers can offer an activity every day, and each benefit from this additional source of revenue.
• Remind hotels and shopping areas that many cultural practitioners are available to provide education and activities to residents and visitors.
• On other islands, promote day trips to Maui.

While there was much negativity surrounding tourism at the public meeting, Paishon Duarte said: “One big takeaway from what we heard from this is that those who spoke at today’s meeting are in great support of a regenerative tourism model that is more responsible and accountable to the residents of Hawaiʻi.”