For many years Maui has been voted Best Island in the World by readers of numerous publications such as Condé Nast Traveler and occasionally Travel+Leisure Magazine. I suspect that honor will be much harder to obtain in the future.
This saddens me a lot, since West Maui has for so many years been my home away from home.
The Blame is Shared by Many
In many ways, and due to many factors, Maui has become a less visitor friendly island than in past years. The blame is shared by many.
Lahaina Denied Halloween Permits
The latest blow to Maui visitors is the decision by the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission to deny permits for the LahainaTown Action Committee to conduct their annual Halloween program, including the popular costume contest. This action was done despite support for the celebration from the LahainaTown Action Committee.Fortunately, however, the Commission did approve a permit for the afternoon keiki costume parade held by Soroptimist International of West Maui.
Let me be clear. When I've been on Maui for Halloween, I've attended the keiki costume parade, wandered down to the banyan tree area to see some of the adult costumes, but then left town before dark. The more adult parts of the evening never have held much interest for me.
Chaos Will Reign
The decision to deny permits to the LahainaTown Action Committee will likely not result in a smaller celebration, but in chaos. Costumed revelers will still come to Lahaina to celebrate. What will be missing is the organization for the evening's events, the sanctioned police oversight and, dare I say, portable toilets for use by the crowds.Visitors will surely have a poorer experience, local merchants will likely suffer, and the charities which benefited from t-shirt sales will see no money. Why? The Maui County Cultural Resources Commission feels that the Halloween celebration is inappropriate for the historical area and its significance in native Hawaiian culture and history.
Why is One History More Important Than Others?
Interestingly, Lahaina was for many years a whaling port where rowdy behavior was a significant part of daily life. That aspect of Lahaina's past seems to be overlooked by the Commission in favor of an earlier time. Perhaps both have a place in history. But, perhaps neither should have any impact on the one day celebration of Halloween today.If this decision were a single attack on visitor enjoyment of Maui, it could be overlooked. It is, however, just the latest in a series of bad decisions.
Endless Construction Makes Maui the Miami Beach of the Pacific
I will not allow the visitor industry itself to escape criticism. Their push for more condominium and time share construction is making West Maui more like Miami Beach than the place so many of us have loved.Before long there will be few places where you can see the ocean from the highway. Traffic will soon go from terrible to intolerable. The infrastructure is not able to handle the number of new accommodations that are being built.
In their drive to seize the last piece of vacant land in West Maui to build their resorts, the hotel/condo/timeshare builders are destroying so much of what has made Maui such a wonderful island. Fault also lies with the County and State agencies that have approved the permits for this never-ending construction.
Local Rental Business Under Attack
Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares and the Maui County Council Planning Committee share blame for what has for over a year been an attack on the transient vacation rental and bed and breakfasts business on Maui.It's a complex issue, but the bottom line is that many property owners who have, for years, made a living from renting their homes or rooms to visitors are now left in a state of limbo until the County finally makes a decision on their future.
Wedding Coordinators Targets of DNLR and OHA Attacks
Next in our line of the visitor unfriendly is the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) which under pressure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has decided to require wedding coordinators to pay for right-of-entry permits for beach weddings.I'm not at all clear how the DLNR feels that beach weddings damage the beaches or negatively impact these natural and cultural resources. The OHA's involvement in this issue would lead many to believe that they are using the DLNR as a way to attack the visitor industry. Maui's island-based wedding planners will soon see their business decline.
What is Really Going on Here on Maui?
It seems we have a number of groups who are engaged in a not-so-silent war among themselves and it's Maui visitors who are caught in the middle.We have those who represent Maui's native Hawaiian population (about 10% of Maui's population) and their interests: the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission and the statewide OHA.
We have the visitor industry whose main goal is to make money from island visitors: hotel/condo companies, vacation rental and B&B owners, wedding planners and numerous other small operators.
Finally we have the Hawaii State and Maui County governments who have the unenviable role of trying to keep everyone happy, yet still keep some sort of order. Unfortunately in Hawaii, when you make one group happy, you are almost assured to make another irate. Hawaii makes the old cliché "you can't please everybody" a vast understatement.
Caught in the middle of all of these warring parties are Maui's visitors - many of whom simply want to enjoy what many once felt was "the best island in the world," - but which is all too quickly becoming a very unfriendly place for visitors.
Visitors Do Have Other Options
The sad thing is that visitors have many other options, both elsewhere in the world and on other islands if they want to stay in Hawaii.Without visitors Maui is in deep trouble. Even a significant decline in visitors will cause much hardship for most local residents. Despite the bravura that you may hear from some that they'd be better off without tourists, simple economics shows otherwise.
