MauiWine, which has been cultivating grapes on the slopes of Haleakalā and crafting wine for more than 40 years, furloughed some of its staff. The popular Hāliʻimaile General Store, about 30 miles east of Lāhainā, decided to close temporarily. Restaurants like Tin Roof in Kahului, about 22 miles east of Lāhainā, have reduced their hours. With the sudden collapse of tourism on Maui, businesses face a tough choice. Tourism revenue not only supports local businesses and their employees, it generates state and county taxes, funding roads, schools, and public spaces. “Because we know if it survives and thrives, all the people who have jobs there will also recover more quickly.” “We also have to support all of Maui,” Hawai‘i Governor Josh Green said in an August 27 update on Facebook. ( Lāhainā was a glittering jewel of the Hawaiian kingdom.) But the result is a dramatic economic downturn that’s crippling Maui’s ability to recover. Tourists have heeded the warning, canceling vacations and staying away. Locals took to social media pleading to visitors to cancel their trips. In the days after the wildfire, Hawai‘i issued an advisory discouraging nonessential travel to West Maui-including Lāhainā-through October 17. Shopping at local shops, eating at local restaurants that support local farmers, doing activities run by small local businesses-those dollars are directly supporting the residents they are directly keeping local people employed.” Twin disasters “Maui has an economy, for better or worse, that right now is very dependent on visitor spending. “People have lost everything, and now they’re losing their jobs,” Gionson says. It may seem insensitive to sip a mai tai at a hotel pool in Wailea, but every dollar a visitor spends on the island helps its economy, explains Ilihia Gionson, public affairs officer for the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. We need resources to get back on our feet right now.”īut traveling currently to Maui is complicated. “I know people on the outside are confused because some social media posts say to stay away and others saying to come. “We are definitely hoping visitors come back,” says Wisa Miller, who works at Aliʻi Kula Lavender, a 13.5-acre lavender farm that offers tours and runs a gift shop. Now, it’s around 2,000.Īfter advising travelers to stay away, lawmakers, tourism officials, businesses, and even residents are now urging them to visit-mindfully. Before the wildfires, about 8,000 people were arriving on Maui each day. According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, about three million tourists visit Maui each year, spending about $5.4 billion. Livelihoods across one of Hawaiʻi’s most popular islands are suffering as a result of one of the deadliest U.S. “We’re barely hanging in there,” says Driessen. Her husband, a first mate and captain-in-training, had to be laid off. Overnight, she says, it lost 80 percent of its business. It had been booking 80 to 90 snorkel and dinner sails a week. Now the Native Hawaiian wife and mother of two faces losing the Maui-based sailboat tour company that her family started 50 years ago. Everything-except for a mango tree her kūpuna (grandparents) had planted from a seed 50 years ago-is gone. LiAnne Driessen had moved into her grandparents’ home in Lāhainā four years ago, a home destroyed in the August 8 wildfires that razed the historic coastal town and killed at least 115 people.
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