Can Kauai protect itself from becoming the next Maui?

Google “Kauai vs. Maui” and you’ll find a couple pages’ worth of clickbait touting the virtues and differences of both Hawaiian Islands.  

Travel writers who contributed to the sheer volume of words spilled on this pseudo-matchup would have you believe that there are two rival camps. 

And with size and demographics (Maui is the third-most populous island at 164,000, Kauai a little less than half that at 73,000) leading the way, stereotypes of both locals and visitors are revisited over and over in these comparison pieces. Maui travelers are laidback but perhaps yearning for a bigger consumer-driven upside: bigger resorts, golf courses, shopping and, of course, a ponderous and played-out road to remoteness. Kauai travelers are even more laidback but in search of total privacy and the most “authentic” Hawaii experience, complete with two-lane roads, a feral chicken population and, until recently, sparser crowds. 

But is the perception of the type of visitor — and the reality of who actually goes there — changing?

A mix of hard and anecdotal evidence suggests that the gap between the cultures of Kauai and Maui, at least as far as tourists’ tastes, expectations and dollars go, may be shrinking.

The big shift? The Maui fires.  

The fires that leveled Lahaina, killing 100 people and destroying more than 1,000 buildings in August, continue to give all of Hawaii pause as Maui simultaneously grieves and attempts to rebuild.  

Whether the rampant tourism of the past half-century-plus is sustainable or even appropriate in an era of a rapidly changing climate and steadily shrinking resources is contemplated daily as Maui is now faced with having to find real answers to questions about housing, jobs and the short- and long-term effects of colonialism and an economy built on dollars that are flown in.

The short-term economic effects of the fires are undeniable. In late November, the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism released a report finding that visitor arrivals and spending declined for the third straight month compared to 2022. Visitors (734,582 in October 2023) were down 3.2% from October 2022. Overall spending ($1.51 billion in October 2023 as opposed to $1.54 billion the previous October) was also down slightly.  

“The August 8, 2023, Maui wildfires have had a significant impact on the state’s economy,” a Dec. 11 statement from the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism said. “The impacts are most pronounced for Maui County. Between August 2023 and October 2023, visitor arrivals by air to Maui County decreased 51.4 percent compared to the same period in 2022, reflecting a 52.3 percent decrease in domestic flight visitors and a 41.3 percent decrease in international flight visitors.”

The state development agency noted that the biggest beneficiaries as far as visitor numbers go are Oahu (an increase of 12.7%), followed by Kauai, with a 6.5% increase.

“We have seen a big jump in visitor spending compared to the increase in visitors,” Shere’e Quitevis, a spokesperson for the Kauai Visitors Bureau, wrote in an email last week, noting they believe the shift is due to “marketing the destination to a more mindful traveler.”

The reason notwithstanding, the cash infusion into Kauai, according to the visitors bureau, is notable — soaring past pre-pandemic levels.

“In October 2023, 109,337 visitors traveled to Kauai with visitor spending at $233.2 million,” Quitevis said. “Just before the pandemic, October 2019, 102,662 visitors traveled to the Garden Island with visitor spending at $141.9 million.”

With more people and a trend toward spending more, the question remains: Are Kauai visitors still different from Maui visitors? If not, how is that changing the dynamic of the island? The answers are mixed, and depend mostly on who you ask and what mood they’re in when you ask them.  

“We’re from the Big Island, from Kona, and this is one of our favorite places,” Isaac, who works for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in their marketing department, told SFGATE. Because of his job, he asked we not use his last name, which we permitted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy. Isaac said one of his duties is to travel around looking for places to recommend. He and his partner were enjoying a late lunch in the small westside town of Hanapepe after finishing a midday snorkel the second week of December.

He observed that things seemed pretty slow around Kauai but that didn’t surprise him. “For us, it’s like I’d say for the Big Island, December is pretty slow,” he explained. Riding the general ebb in visitors toward the end of the year, Kauai has a propensity to slow “waaaaay down,” Isaac said. And part of it may be it still isn’t the most convenient to get to, even for intra-island travelers.

“I lived here for almost a year and a half,” he said, “then moved away. It still takes 40 minutes to fly [from Kona] to Oahu and then another 30 minutes here.

“It’s not the easiest, but always worth it.”

As far as visitors from the mainland go, several seasoned Kauai visitors said they saw a demonstrable difference from the pre-Maui fire Kauai to what, and more specifically, who, is there today.  

At Wailua Falls, just north of Lihue, visitors get a big bang for their buck by simply pulling up to a small turnaround in their cars, getting out and taking photos of a waterfall that rushes toward the south end of the Wailua River.

“My parents have a timeshare,” West Covina resident Johnny Diaz told SFGATE during a mid-December trip to Kauai. “One of the tour guides we had, he recommended the [falls] for my parents. It’s easy to get to, you can drive to it.”

Were there any drawbacks visiting a go-to spot? “The traffic’s a little much.”

With its two-lane roads and low speeds, traffic has surged on the island over the past several years, the problem exacerbated by scofflaw tourists. The congestion and the disrespect for posted laws have some locals up in arms: “To me, traffic calming in Hanalei would be reducing the cars in Hanalei because bringing this many cars into Hanalei is not sustainable,” one local said during a public meeting about the island’s traffic woes in June 2022. “How about you can only come to Hanalei with your car if you live here?”

Brent Mass from Saskatchewan was also at the falls. He mentioned that traffic and crowds had crept in a little bit while there, though he said for the most part he didn’t experience a lot of delays due to human activity during his family’s two-week Kauai vacation.

“We spent a lot of time at the beach, have done a lot of hiking, saw the turtles, monk seals, there were people, but you don’t feel crowded,” he told SFGATE, gesturing toward a throng that had gathered three people deep to peer over the ledge at the falls. As he did, one man climbed up and perched himself precariously on a railing to get a better shot of the falls with his phone. “… much.”  

Others said that they had recently “discovered” Kauai and, for them, it was well worth the extra effort.

“Kauai is our last island to do. We just did Waimea Canyon, it’s gorgeous, unbelievable,” Mike Bates, a Nova Scotia resident, told SFGATE. Bates and his partner were stopping through Hanapepe for a quick lunch on the way back to their hotel. He wondered most about the expenses they’d incurred on the island. “We went to the grocery store, and it was outrageous. We asked a woman working how they keep up here? How many jobs do you have to have to live here?

“It’s been fun. We see the fun. But these are questions we should ask.”

These problems are no secret. A 2019 white paper summarizing the economic outlook of Kauai released by the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii contains a summary statement that is arguably even more true, at least in sentiment, today: “Slower growth may be a welcome respite for many on Kauai, given familiar challenges, including the adverse impacts of excessive visitor growth, the high cost and inadequate supply of housing, and constraints posed by a limited workforce and a lack of economic opportunity,” the report states. “There is broad consensus that tackling these challenges will be key to preserving a high quality of life on Kauai.”

Over and over, those who look for differences between Maui and Kauai will see many. And on Kauai, it starts with well-kept ambiance from a different time. An old-school Pizza Hut comes into view as soon as you turn onto the Kuhio Highway from the airport. Just up the road from there is Kukui Grove, a single-story mall dropped from outer space into the middle of Jurassic Park to solidify the island’s aesthetic as being frozen in the 1990s in the most pleasant way imaginable. The mall is anchored by a Macy’s, and those who haven’t been treated to a high-end retail experience in a while should stop by to see locals and visitors picking out clothes, jewelry, fragrances and housewares in a pleasant and well-kept environment. 

Dotting the island are more grim reminders of yesterday, too, including intact smokestacks of the old sugar plantations next to old graveyards of their workers. Reminders of the island’s past juxtaposed with shiny new food trucks and plenty of its real stars — native sea turtles and invasive chickens — lounging around.  

It’s living artifacts like these that cause many to proclaim that Kauai is, right now, still paradise found: “We’ve come every other year for the last 20 years,” Greg Miller from Chico said as he stood in line to grab a famous Puka Dog at Poipu Beach. “Lots has changed everywhere else. Maybe it’s a little more crowded here, it is. But it’s worth it. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.”

The sentiment that Kauai still stands out among the islands is one Quitevis feels is accurate and hopes continues.

“No plans to be like Maui,” she wrote. “In fact, we are very much aware of the capacity of the island.”

It’s an awareness that seems to ring true, in some way, for every visitor. But it’s also a sentiment that makes them identify even more with Kauai — and differentiate themselves from other Hawaii travelers, including those who frequent Maui, from the moment they step off the plane.

Perhaps the only question that remains is how many have yet to discover that they are the same.