I support the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations (IT-54) and urge the jurisdiction of the bill to cover Maui County at large.
As someone that has witnessed the negative impact of over turism in both Italy, Greece and the Caribbean, I’m submitting my testimony to warn the community and this jurisdiction of its danger.
Unregulated turism is a form of economical monopoly and financial dependency the down fall of which was visible during the COVID 19 pandemic were, the all state, was financially paralyzed as tourism despaired.
Turism is often sold as a means to economic development, which it provides up to a point.
However, most of the revenue made with turism is made in the development (construction and trade) and by out of state company that use local resources (land, water, beaches, roads, and natural beauty) to develop their business.
In return, turism provides mostly low to medium wage jobs as companies keeps wage low to increase profits. This, preventing the local community from developing a diversified, professional and sustainable economy, with high skills jobs capable of providing better wages and a better quality of life.
Unrestricted development of visitor accommodations also increase the value of land and real estate, incising property taxes, pricing out local community from buy home or even afford their ancestral homes.
Unrestricted development of visitor accommodations has both an ecological and a financial impact on the truism industry itself. As developer seek new and unique destination to develop tourist accommodation and services, these same developments, in the long run, deteriorate the beauty and uniqueness of such destinations lowering their value and price point.
Tourists visit Maui to experience its natural beauty and uniqueness and for that they pay a lot of money.
As more visitor accommodations are developed, more land taken, more infostructures build and more natural resources disrupted, Maui uniqueness and natural beauty fades. Then developers, which are not invested in our common future, move to “new unique destinations” , high paying costumers and services shift to new destinations, lower paying costumer flocks to the island lowering the price of accommodation, services and as a default lowering the income stream for the people working in the industry living Maui with a lot of concrete, spare change, a devastate natural and financial landscape.
To protect the future and the prosperity of our community, I urge the County and the Mayor to invest in the uniqueness of Maui and its community, finding a more balanced future for tourism and to insure the needs of the individual voting populace toplay a greater role in determining tourism and development policy.
I urge the Council and the Mayor to implement a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations, to evaluate the rapid expansion of non-hotel temporary visitor housing (timeshares, airbnbs, mobile camping vehicles and other categories) and their negative impact on the County, and to extend the moratorium to the whole of the County. In doing so, I urge the Council to ensure that any moratorium is legally binding throughout all relevant County capacities (e.g., planning etc.).
Finally, I support the moratorium so that any findings that are subsequently discovered about the impact of the moratorium can be incorporated into County larger planning and management tools including but not limited to the County General Plan 2030, Countywide Policy Plan, and Maui Island Plan, and all related rules and amendments. My great thanks for watching out for the future of our ohana, the children of the island and the culture.
We do not need more tourists or more rooms to house more tourists. We are beyond Maui's breaking point. Start by putting more energy in diversifying our economy and not so much energy in building more hotel rooms. Stop the building!
Doesn’t it seem obvious that we have enough tourism and money driving it? Seems there isn’t enough nature and habitat for its inhabitants, but tourists somehow take precedence. It’s strange how people lament the Hunger Games and its brutality, but such land grab serves only to serve the ferocity of humans who pilfer it rather than that who choose to live on it and in harmony with it. Honor the land, not those who choose to ruin it.
I strongly support this moratorium and strongly recommend it to apply to the whole of Maui County. The current out of control tourism diminishes the quality of life for the people of Maui County and it destroys the environment. Maui is already overdeveloped.
Our infrastructure is failing with current levels of use whether it's brown outs on the electrical grid or brown as in poop contaminated water near our beaches. It seems ridiculous to keep adding pressure on this infrastructure until existing problems are corrected. Additionally we don't have enough roads to accommodate anymore people. For certain parts of the island traffic congestion can dangerous to those needing emergency services.
I strongly support this moratorium and strongly recommend it to apply to the whole of Maui County. The current out of control tourism diminishes the quality of life for the people of Maui County and it destroys the environment. Maui is already overdeveloped. Previously, it was thought that the inflow of visitors helped sustain small business here and offered some benefit to residents even though our infrastructure could not support the ever-increasing visitor numbers. The pandemic has illuminated more clearly than ever before that the tentacles of corporate greed are siphoning off every tourism dollar to their multi-national accounts. This is bleeding dry our natural beauty and resources while making life harder for the average person as the prosperity gap widens. The net negative effects on land and people has reached a crescendo. It’s time for our local elected representatives to re-establish the sanctity of these lands and waters. Stand up and ensure No More Tourist Development in ALL of Maui County.
I support the moratorium on Visitor accommodations.
Their numbers already exceed the MAXIMUM percentage as outlined in the Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026. (41% first two months 2020 pre-pandemic)
Many of the issues outlined in this plan have not yet been addressed, and negative impact of tourism has only been exacerbated. Tourism is not helping our economy, as many employed are "under-employed" and do not make a living wage, working two or more jobs. This is detrimental to families, children, and lifestyle.
We are being overrun. There is growing resentment among all residents of Maui that I've spoken with towards tourism and tourists, with regards to access to Public Beaches, parking, simply driving to get anywhere on the island. This negativity will certainly reflect in the visitor's experience, in effect, making Maui less desirable—not that people will stop coming. It just creates more hostility on both sides.
Issues from the Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 that have been exacerbated, not resolved, in 2021:
"In 2015, about 27% [first 2 months of 2020: 41%] of the people on Maui any given day were visitors, a percentage that has been steadily climbing since 2009 and is highest in the state (though only a little ahead of Kaua‘i). The renewed post-Recession increases in visitor counts shown earlier in Figure 2 – along with attendant resident population increases – have exacerbated longstanding community problems, such as overcrowded roads, lack of affordable housing, and reduction in the quality of life. Particular sore points include extreme congestion on the Pali Highway (the single road between central and west Maui) and Pā‘ia, which has only a single traffic light. A new Lahaina bypass on the Pali Highway appears only to have moved the main bottleneck down the road to Puamana. On both roads, traffic often backs up for several miles and can delay travelers at almost any time of the week for at least an hour, sometimes more. This not only irritates visitors and residents in general, but for visitor industry workers it also means longer commutes and effective lower wages due to travel costs and more time away from family. Other resident concerns mentioned in the 2017 interviews include (a) sense of “encroachment,” as discussed in the following sub-section, and (b) perception of insufficient local training to permit workers to advance to higher-level executive/management jobs. Environment (Both Natural Resources and Man-Made) There is a reported sense of growing “encroachment” by visitors on traditionally “local” outdoor spaces and natural resources, as well as actual trespass onto private- or Stateowned property. Some interviewees attributed this to a growing trend for “adventure tourism” (i.e., visitor experiences that are “off the beaten path,” non-standard, and not limited to resort areas), though this may simply reflect the natural inclination of repeat visitors to see more of the island and have different experiences. Nevertheless, residents sometimes express frustration at the growing numbers of visitors accessing favorite natural areas, and their own reduced ability to do the same because of overcrowding. While traffic was the biggest infrastructure issue raised by the 2017 Maui interviewees, there were also strong concerns about other types of aging and/or poorly maintained infrastructure – particularly airports, harbors, roads, parks in general, and beach park restrooms in particular. Beach facilities were further criticized in terms of cleanliness and inadequate parking, benches and pavilions, water safety, and general security. A number of interviewees also said overdevelopment of open spaces may be leading to a reduction in Maui’s natural appeal to visitors. Coral reef bleaching – primarily from climate change but also sometimes attributed to local run-off and water pollution – was a major theme sounded by interviewees. Other concerns related to climate change included coastal flood/inundation due to rising sea levels and heightening extreme weather patterns (tropical storms, extended droughts, Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 20 Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 etc.). Interviewees also questioned whether the County and the industry have developed sufficiently extensive natural disaster plans."
Aside from the above, it has come to my attention that the CO2 footprint generated by Maui Tourism Industry is the highest per capita on the planet.
"We're 150,000 people on Maui and we make our living from flying 2.5 million people from all over the world to spend just 5-8 days here. The flights emit 4.5 million tons of CO2 (a quarter of the State's 18 million tons as calculated by Tawn Keeney). This is our industry, so we should have ownership of those. This means each Mauian is responsible for 30 tons/year plus the 20 tons/year we emit personally. Makes 50 tons/year per person, easily the top polluter of the world.
It's not just about "us" and the meager dollars tourism brings to Maui to keep hotel workers underemployed. In the bigger picture, we need to consider not only the harmful impact on our island, but on the planet.
Until ALL of the above is adequately addressed, there should absolutely be NO more visitor accommodations.
I support the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. We need to pivot from being reliant on tourists and invest in our residents, farming in maui and diversity in our economics.
I fully support on moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. Maui is already at capacity. We don't need anything else for visitors! We need more affordable housing for the residents of Maui!!
Please stop adding more tourist accomodations. The entire Maui County needs to focus on long term sustainability, its local community, and preservation. Please limit the number of tourists that visit the islands daily and also how many invade Hana. The islands are dying because they are overrun with people.
Aloha,
I support the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations (IT-54) and urge the jurisdiction of the bill to cover Maui County at large.
As someone that has witnessed the negative impact of over turism in both Italy, Greece and the Caribbean, I’m submitting my testimony to warn the community and this jurisdiction of its danger.
Unregulated turism is a form of economical monopoly and financial dependency the down fall of which was visible during the COVID 19 pandemic were, the all state, was financially paralyzed as tourism despaired.
Turism is often sold as a means to economic development, which it provides up to a point.
However, most of the revenue made with turism is made in the development (construction and trade) and by out of state company that use local resources (land, water, beaches, roads, and natural beauty) to develop their business.
In return, turism provides mostly low to medium wage jobs as companies keeps wage low to increase profits. This, preventing the local community from developing a diversified, professional and sustainable economy, with high skills jobs capable of providing better wages and a better quality of life.
Unrestricted development of visitor accommodations also increase the value of land and real estate, incising property taxes, pricing out local community from buy home or even afford their ancestral homes.
Unrestricted development of visitor accommodations has both an ecological and a financial impact on the truism industry itself. As developer seek new and unique destination to develop tourist accommodation and services, these same developments, in the long run, deteriorate the beauty and uniqueness of such destinations lowering their value and price point.
Tourists visit Maui to experience its natural beauty and uniqueness and for that they pay a lot of money.
As more visitor accommodations are developed, more land taken, more infostructures build and more natural resources disrupted, Maui uniqueness and natural beauty fades. Then developers, which are not invested in our common future, move to “new unique destinations” , high paying costumers and services shift to new destinations, lower paying costumer flocks to the island lowering the price of accommodation, services and as a default lowering the income stream for the people working in the industry living Maui with a lot of concrete, spare change, a devastate natural and financial landscape.
To protect the future and the prosperity of our community, I urge the County and the Mayor to invest in the uniqueness of Maui and its community, finding a more balanced future for tourism and to insure the needs of the individual voting populace toplay a greater role in determining tourism and development policy.
I urge the Council and the Mayor to implement a moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations, to evaluate the rapid expansion of non-hotel temporary visitor housing (timeshares, airbnbs, mobile camping vehicles and other categories) and their negative impact on the County, and to extend the moratorium to the whole of the County. In doing so, I urge the Council to ensure that any moratorium is legally binding throughout all relevant County capacities (e.g., planning etc.).
Finally, I support the moratorium so that any findings that are subsequently discovered about the impact of the moratorium can be incorporated into County larger planning and management tools including but not limited to the County General Plan 2030, Countywide Policy Plan, and Maui Island Plan, and all related rules and amendments. My great thanks for watching out for the future of our ohana, the children of the island and the culture.
Mahalo,
Maia Marinelli
Too many tourists already. No need any more accommodations for them.
Focus should be on housing affordable in perpetuity...
No more visitor accommodations, we have enough, thank you
Maui is a home before an attraction
We do not need more tourists or more rooms to house more tourists. We are beyond Maui's breaking point. Start by putting more energy in diversifying our economy and not so much energy in building more hotel rooms. Stop the building!
There’s absolutely no reason to add more visitor housing. Already our infrastructure is lacking. Our aina needs protecting not more harm.
The infrastructure we have doesn't support the existing visitors, time to stop adding more accommodations.
Maui will become like Oahu and ruin the essence.of Maui!
Stop the building
Doesn’t it seem obvious that we have enough tourism and money driving it? Seems there isn’t enough nature and habitat for its inhabitants, but tourists somehow take precedence. It’s strange how people lament the Hunger Games and its brutality, but such land grab serves only to serve the ferocity of humans who pilfer it rather than that who choose to live on it and in harmony with it. Honor the land, not those who choose to ruin it.
I strongly support this moratorium and strongly recommend it to apply to the whole of Maui County. The current out of control tourism diminishes the quality of life for the people of Maui County and it destroys the environment. Maui is already overdeveloped.
For once please think about the well being of the people who live in on our island
Our infrastructure is failing with current levels of use whether it's brown outs on the electrical grid or brown as in poop contaminated water near our beaches. It seems ridiculous to keep adding pressure on this infrastructure until existing problems are corrected. Additionally we don't have enough roads to accommodate anymore people. For certain parts of the island traffic congestion can dangerous to those needing emergency services.
I strongly support this moratorium and strongly recommend it to apply to the whole of Maui County. The current out of control tourism diminishes the quality of life for the people of Maui County and it destroys the environment. Maui is already overdeveloped. Previously, it was thought that the inflow of visitors helped sustain small business here and offered some benefit to residents even though our infrastructure could not support the ever-increasing visitor numbers. The pandemic has illuminated more clearly than ever before that the tentacles of corporate greed are siphoning off every tourism dollar to their multi-national accounts. This is bleeding dry our natural beauty and resources while making life harder for the average person as the prosperity gap widens. The net negative effects on land and people has reached a crescendo. It’s time for our local elected representatives to re-establish the sanctity of these lands and waters. Stand up and ensure No More Tourist Development in ALL of Maui County.
I support the moratorium on Visitor accommodations.
Their numbers already exceed the MAXIMUM percentage as outlined in the Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026. (41% first two months 2020 pre-pandemic)
https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/110666/Maui-County-Tourism-Industry-Stragetic-Plan--Volume-1
Many of the issues outlined in this plan have not yet been addressed, and negative impact of tourism has only been exacerbated. Tourism is not helping our economy, as many employed are "under-employed" and do not make a living wage, working two or more jobs. This is detrimental to families, children, and lifestyle.
We are being overrun. There is growing resentment among all residents of Maui that I've spoken with towards tourism and tourists, with regards to access to Public Beaches, parking, simply driving to get anywhere on the island. This negativity will certainly reflect in the visitor's experience, in effect, making Maui less desirable—not that people will stop coming. It just creates more hostility on both sides.
Issues from the Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 that have been exacerbated, not resolved, in 2021:
"In 2015, about 27% [first 2 months of 2020: 41%] of the people on Maui any given day were visitors, a percentage that has been steadily climbing since 2009 and is highest in the state (though only a little ahead of Kaua‘i). The renewed post-Recession increases in visitor counts shown earlier in Figure 2 – along with attendant resident population increases – have exacerbated longstanding community problems, such as overcrowded roads, lack of affordable housing, and reduction in the quality of life. Particular sore points include extreme congestion on the Pali Highway (the single road between central and west Maui) and Pā‘ia, which has only a single traffic light. A new Lahaina bypass on the Pali Highway appears only to have moved the main bottleneck down the road to Puamana. On both roads, traffic often backs up for several miles and can delay travelers at almost any time of the week for at least an hour, sometimes more. This not only irritates visitors and residents in general, but for visitor industry workers it also means longer commutes and effective lower wages due to travel costs and more time away from family. Other resident concerns mentioned in the 2017 interviews include (a) sense of “encroachment,” as discussed in the following sub-section, and (b) perception of insufficient local training to permit workers to advance to higher-level executive/management jobs. Environment (Both Natural Resources and Man-Made) There is a reported sense of growing “encroachment” by visitors on traditionally “local” outdoor spaces and natural resources, as well as actual trespass onto private- or Stateowned property. Some interviewees attributed this to a growing trend for “adventure tourism” (i.e., visitor experiences that are “off the beaten path,” non-standard, and not limited to resort areas), though this may simply reflect the natural inclination of repeat visitors to see more of the island and have different experiences. Nevertheless, residents sometimes express frustration at the growing numbers of visitors accessing favorite natural areas, and their own reduced ability to do the same because of overcrowding. While traffic was the biggest infrastructure issue raised by the 2017 Maui interviewees, there were also strong concerns about other types of aging and/or poorly maintained infrastructure – particularly airports, harbors, roads, parks in general, and beach park restrooms in particular. Beach facilities were further criticized in terms of cleanliness and inadequate parking, benches and pavilions, water safety, and general security. A number of interviewees also said overdevelopment of open spaces may be leading to a reduction in Maui’s natural appeal to visitors. Coral reef bleaching – primarily from climate change but also sometimes attributed to local run-off and water pollution – was a major theme sounded by interviewees. Other concerns related to climate change included coastal flood/inundation due to rising sea levels and heightening extreme weather patterns (tropical storms, extended droughts, Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 20 Maui County Tourism Industry Strategic Plan 2017-2026 etc.). Interviewees also questioned whether the County and the industry have developed sufficiently extensive natural disaster plans."
Aside from the above, it has come to my attention that the CO2 footprint generated by Maui Tourism Industry is the highest per capita on the planet.
"We're 150,000 people on Maui and we make our living from flying 2.5 million people from all over the world to spend just 5-8 days here. The flights emit 4.5 million tons of CO2 (a quarter of the State's 18 million tons as calculated by Tawn Keeney). This is our industry, so we should have ownership of those. This means each Mauian is responsible for 30 tons/year plus the 20 tons/year we emit personally. Makes 50 tons/year per person, easily the top polluter of the world.
Maui: 50 tons CO2/person/yr
U.S.: 16 tons CO2/person/yr
World: 4 tons CO2/person/yr" — [Chris Mentzel]
It's not just about "us" and the meager dollars tourism brings to Maui to keep hotel workers underemployed. In the bigger picture, we need to consider not only the harmful impact on our island, but on the planet.
Until ALL of the above is adequately addressed, there should absolutely be NO more visitor accommodations.
I support the moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. We need to pivot from being reliant on tourists and invest in our residents, farming in maui and diversity in our economics.
I fully support on moratorium on building permits for visitor accommodations. Maui is already at capacity. We don't need anything else for visitors! We need more affordable housing for the residents of Maui!!
Tourism is out of control on Maui ..too many cars...too many people... driving crazy!!! I SUPORT this moratorium...
There's already far too many accommodations for tourists, anymore will create problems. Look what happened to Oahu!
Please stop adding more tourist accomodations. The entire Maui County needs to focus on long term sustainability, its local community, and preservation. Please limit the number of tourists that visit the islands daily and also how many invade Hana. The islands are dying because they are overrun with people.