Johanna Jainchill
On Aug. 8, Maui will mark the one-year anniversary of the fires that killed 102 people and destroyed much of Lahaina, the cultural heart of the island and ancient capital of Hawaii.
In the early days after the fire, talking about tourism seemed callous: Families were freshly grieving the loss of their loved ones, and thousands had lost their homes and businesses.
Maui is still very much in recovery. Lahaina has not been rebuilt, and its harbor has not reopened. But people on the ground are also struggling due to the slow recovery of tourism, which has resulted in a double disaster for many on the island, where the visitor industry generates 80% of economic activity and provides 75% of all private sector jobs, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).
The HTA has been reporting a decline in tourist arrivals and spending statewide this year, but Maui is lagging even more: Total visitor arrivals to Maui plummeted 24.3% year over year through the first five months of 2024, while visitor spending dropped more than 23%.
Marriott International CFO Leeny Oberg said last week during the company's Q2 earnings call that Hawaii overall was experiencing softness — in part due to the strength of the dollar and its impact on the Japanese market — but that Maui "is definitely still seeing the slowest recovery."
"The tragedy in Lahaina has clearly had a huge impact on the island," she said. "That island in particular is having a slower recovery than the other parts of Hawaii."
In a statement, the Four Seasons on Maui said "the community continues to feel the economic aftermath of the misinformation and mixed messages on whether it's appropriate to visit the island, which has made recovery a slower build for its residents."
Business at Kai Kanani, which offers snorkeling and sailing charters out of Wailea, is down 35% year over year, said marketing director David Taylor.
"Typically, in July we would be sold out," he said. "This July, we've struggled to maintain customers and had to cancel many trips just because of the low numbers. And we've probably fared better than the resorts. I'd say the resorts are down considerably more than we are right now. The fact that right now, midsummer, I can get a reservation at any restaurant in Wailea the day of, no problem, is a problem."
Before the fires, he said, that would be impossible during peak season — which is anytime school is out in the U.S. "It was really, really busy. And we were having a banner year when the fires hit," Taylor said. "We were going to break our own company records."
Taylor said that people in tourism on the island are "begging the state to do more, and the county to do more messaging to help people know that Maui is still Maui" and that the island is open.
Getting that message out, he said, will require advertising.
"The prediction that most of us were thinking is it's going to be a two- to three-year recovery as far as tourism," he said. "It is going to require messaging saying 'come, this is paradise, you are safe here. It is beautiful here. Come and relax and enjoy it.' Because it really is. It's still just absolutely magical."