Hawaii
Tourism Is Still Way Down On Maui. And That's Causing A Lot Of Problems
Government officials and tourism executives are seeking to restore tourism to Maui, a year after wildfires destroyed much of the island’s Lahaina tourism hub and battered the its key industry.
Just a year ago residents rallied to implore tourists to stay away from West Maui and let residents grieve and recover.
Now officials are planning to target travelers from Southern California – Maui’s most important market – with a campaign designed to restore what tourism executives say is critically needed business for the island’s economy.
Visitor numbers and spending remain sluggish since the August 2023 wildfires. According to the most recent available data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, for June, the number of visitors to Maui was down 22% compared with June 2023. Visitor spending was down 27%, HTA reported.
The 216,065 visitors to Maui in June was far more than the 94,221 who came in September, the month after the fire. But the number is 22% fewer than the 276,136 who came in June 2023. And with the traditionally slow fall travel season on the horizon, the situation soon could get worse.
“We’re clearly seeing tremendous softness on Maui,” said Jay Talwar, chief marketing officer with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau. Projections show the softness could remain until March or April of next year, said Talwar, whose organization leads Hawaii’s tourism marketing to the U.S. mainland.
The press to attract travelers is a dramatic departure from the mixed messages prospective visitors received in the weeks and months after the devastating fires, said Mufi Hannemann, chairman of the board that governs the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
In a series of stories this week, Civil Beat is reflecting on what’s happened in the year since wildfires swept through Maui and what’s ahead for the island and its people.
Initially, tourists thought they should stay away from Maui, Hannemann recalls. Later they were told to come to Maui but not to West Maui. Then they were told to come, but to be sensitive to what residents were going through, as part of a “Malama Maui” campaign.
Now tourism officials are rolling out an unequivocal welcome mat, especially for potential visitors from the Los Angeles area, Hannemann says. The authority is hoping to make mixed messages a thing of the past, he said.
“We really feel all of that is behind us,” Hannemann said.
Workforce And Air Service Decline As Visitor Base Shrinks
Tourism executives on Maui are facing multiple problems as tourism lags.
One critical issue involves workforce, said Lisa Paulson, executive director of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association. The island’s hotel workforce has declined by 5,600 since the fires, she said. And with housing prices escalating, it’s hard to recruit new workers to the island, she said.
The lack of workers is so bad that some hotels are considering outsourcing certain jobs to third-parties instead of relying on hotel employees, Paulson said. That creates fewer in-house hotel jobs, which drives more people out of the workforce. It’s all part of what Paulson describes as a downward vicious spiral.
“It’s like a dog chasing it’s tail,” she said. “Where does the solution insert itself?”
Another vicious spiral involves airline seats to Maui. Airline assets are by definition mobile: if a route isn’t popular, airlines can move a smaller plane to serve it or eliminate the service altogether. That means a smaller supply of seats for travelers — and potentially higher fares for those seats, which affects demand, and so on.
“The challenge with airlines is their assets are moveable, so they can move their assets where demand is,” HVCB’s Talwar said.
According to Paulson, Maui’s passenger air capacity is down 16% since before the fires. Much of that involves service to the key Los Angeles market, Talwar said. Losing the LA seats is especially problematic, he said, because LA serves as a gateway to Hawaii, serving travelers from destinations further east as well as those from Southern California.
“If we lose flights from LA, it’s a double whammy,” he said.
But regaining air travelers poses a major challenge. Short term, airline bookings for Maui through the end of the year are below levels reported in July 2023, the tourism authority reports. And some softness could remain for years.
A recent Hawaii Tourism Authority study found that over a third of air travelers interviewed in May said the Maui wildfires will impact their likelihood of visiting Hawaii in the next two years. Eight percent said they previously were likely to visit but are “no longer likely to visit in the next two years due to the fires.”
It’s not just big businesses like resorts and airlines that are feeling the pinch. For small business owners like Karli Rose Wilson, the drop in visitors has meant a substantial decline in her business. The owner of To Be Organics, Wilson manufactures high-end bath, body and skin care products at a design studio in Wailuku.
Wilson normally sells her products wholesale to boutiques, hotels, meeting planners and the like. After the fires, Wilson said, she shut down her factory and and shop for about three weeks and used the space for people to drop off relief supplies. Wilson’s husband, a former chef who now works with To Be, volunteered cooking meals for fire survivors.
After reopening in September, Wilson pivoted from her business-to-business model to sell more products on line. The holidays and first quarter of 2024 were good for To Be, she says, as people rallied to support small Maui-based businesses.
This ongoing series explores where Hawaii’s economy is headed and whether it can grow beyond tourism.
But that business has fallen off, and the normal influx of summer tourists hasn’t come this year.
“We’re all used to the seasonal fluctuations,” she said. “We were waiting for summer to happen at the end of June. But there was nothing. It was crickets. We never really got that summer season.”
So instead of a boost to carry To Be into the holiday season, the company has seen a decline of about 25% compared with last year, she said.
Corporate Meetings and Incentive Travel Targeted For 2025
The tourism authority and HVCB’s push in Los Angeles harkens back to a similar effort launched after the 2008 financial crisis, Talwar said. The idea is not simply to saturate the market but to use behavioral data to target advertising to potential visitors.
Talwar said the campaign will involve paid social media ads and non-skippable commercials appearing on smart TVs, but he declined to say much more. Hotels will be encouraged to bolster the advertising with their own ads and promotions
“I don’t want to go into too many details because it’s a competitive market,” he said.
The visitors bureau is also looking to corporate meetings and incentive travel to fill hotel rooms, restaurants and ballrooms. Travel paid for by companies for corporate retreats and as rewards for top performers can be especially lucrative, Talwar said.
And it’s not just money for rooms and food and beverage.
With all their travel and lodging expenses paid, pampered corporate travelers often have extra cash for shopping, spas and other activities, Talwar said.
“We see a much higher spend from them,” he said.
For hotels, booking groups in advance enables them to better manage cash flow and staffing.
And with team-building exercises often scheduled for corporate meeting and incentive trips, such travelers are likely to engage in the volunteer activities that HTA promotes as part of its Malama Hawaii campaign.
To secure more such travel for Maui, the HVCB is hosting a trip to Maui in December for decision makers for what Talway described as “key accounts,” such as corporations and industry groups. In August 2025, Maui is planning to host some 250 key meeting and incentive planners, Talwar said.
Wilson said To Be has benefitted in the past from corporate planners buying her luxury, locally made creams, oils and candles to give away as gifts. So boosting such travel will help her and other small Maui businesses that rely on tourists.
Asked whether she and her peers can survive until the new initiatives gain traction, Wilson expressed optimism.
“On Maui, I feel like we’re resilient. We’re a strong community,” she said. “As entrepreneurs, this is part of the journey — to overcome these obstacles, no matter what form they come in. And the festive season is right around the corner.”
Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.
“Hawaii’s Changing Economy” is supported by a grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation as part of its CHANGE Framework project.
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KULA (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Maui man was sentenced to 40 months in prison for setting off a homemade explosive device near Kaamana Street in Kula, back in August 2024.
According to court records, Jess Kiesel Lee, 43, planted multiple homemade fireworks in the area, one of which had Lee’s finger prints on it.
The Maui Police Department worked with the FBI to determine that at least one of the devices contained a mixture of compounds consistent with explosive firework powder.
A month later, an FBI search of Lee’s residence in Kula uncovered methamphetamine, firearms, ammunition, and IEDs containing flash powder.
Lee admitted to knowingly possessing that explosive powder after as a convicted felon.
U.S. District Judge Jill Otake noted that fireworks pose a danger to both individuals and the general public.
Otake went on to say that Lee’s placing his homemade firework near a wooded area on Kaamana Street placed the surrounding community in danger considering Maui’s susceptibility to wildfires.
“The protection and safety of our community is our highest priority,” said U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson. “We have witnessed the serious harm and life-threatening danger presented by the possession and use of illegal explosives in our local communities, including illegal fireworks. We pledge to aggressively investigate, charge, and convict those who unlawfully construct, possess, or detonate explosives and explosive materials. We credit our steadfast partners at the FBI for their outstanding investigative efforts in this case.”
Federal law prohibits convicted felons from possessing any explosive shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
“Homemade explosive devices present a significant danger to our island communities,” said FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge David Porter. “The FBI—in coordination with our law enforcement partners—is committed to using every tool available to hold criminals accountable when they threaten public safety.”
Following his prison sentence, Otake sentenced Lee to three 3 years of supervised release.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Nearly 40 percent of annual proposals happen between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. Simple Hawaii Wedding prepares for its busiest inquiry period as newly engaged couples seek intimate and affordable Hawaii destination weddings.
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – December 9, 2025 – As the holiday season approaches, Simple Hawaii Wedding is gearing up for what the wedding industry calls “engagement season”: the magical period between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day when nearly 40% of all marriage proposals take place.
Approximately 2.5 million couples get engaged annually in the U.S., with 19% of proposals happening in December alone, more than double any other month. Christmas Day ranks as the most popular proposal day, followed by Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
“Based on our experience, we typically see a significant uptick in wedding planning inquiries starting in January as newly engaged couples begin researching their dream wedding locations,” says Karma Hill, founder of Simple Hawaii Wedding.
Smart Couples Choose Intimate Celebrations
Wedding costs have reached record levels, with the average U.S. wedding now costing $36,000 in 2025, up from $29,000 in 2023.
In response, micro-weddings, intimate celebrations with 50 guests or fewer, now represent 18% of all U.S. weddings, up from just 10% in 2013. Industry experts estimate micro-weddings cost over 50% less than traditional celebrations, allowing couples to invest in what brings them joy, an unforgettable honeymoon, a down payment on a home, or peace of mind starting married life.
Hawaii Remains Top Choice
Hawaii ranks among the top three destination wedding locations in the U.S., with approximately 20,000 couples choosing the islands annually. The Hawaii destination wedding industry is projected to grow at 11.6% annually.
“The shift toward intimate weddings isn’t just about saving money, it’s about creating a more meaningful experience,” Hill explains. “The Big Island offers everything from pristine beaches to volcanic landscapes, and we make planning stress-free with all-inclusive packages.”
According to industry research, 30% of couples are reducing guest lists by an average of 25 people, prioritizing quality connections over large-scale productions.
The Simple Hawaii Wedding Difference
Simple Hawaii Wedding specializes in intimate Big Island ceremonies for 50 guests or fewer. With over 20 years of planning experience, the company partners exclusively with professional photographers, officiants, and vendors.
“We handle permits, photography, officiants, florals, and coordination,” says Hill. “Couples can have their dream wedding without the financial strain, emotional stress, or the logistics of a 150-person event.”
Planning Tips for Holiday-Engaged Couples
For couples who get engaged this holiday season and are considering a Hawaii destination wedding, Simple Hawaii Wedding recommends:
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Book early – The most popular wedding dates (May, July, and October in Hawaii) fill up quickly
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Consider the off-season – February, March, and January offer beautiful weather with fewer crowds
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Start planning 9-12 months in advance – This is the average timeline for destination weddings
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Research all-inclusive packages – They simplify planning and often provide better value
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Trust local experts – Work with planners who know the locations, vendors, and permit requirements
“Our goal is to take the stress out of planning,” says Hill. “We create simply beautiful weddings that are authentically you, without breaking the bank.”
About Simple Hawaii Wedding
Simple Hawaii Wedding provides premium wedding planning services for intimate Big Island weddings, elopements, and vow renewals. Founded by Karma and Steve Hill, the company offers complete wedding packages featuring professional photography through Karma Hill Photography, experienced officiants, stunning floral arrangements, and seamless coordination. Simple Hawaii Wedding provides premium wedding planning services for intimate Big Island weddings, elopements, and vow renewals. Founded by Karma and Steve Hill, the company offers complete wedding packages with professional photography through Karma Hill Photography, experienced officiants, stunning floral arrangements, and seamless coordination.
The company serves the Kona and Kohala coast of the Big Island and also operates Simple Maui Wedding, Simple Oahu Wedding, and Karma Hill Photography, extending a superior standard of service across all island locations.
For more information, visit simplehawaiiwedding.com.
Media Contact
Company Name: Simple Hawaii Wedding
Contact Person: Steven Hill
Email: Send Email
City: Kailua-Kona
State: Hawaii 96740
Country: United States
Website: https://simplehawaiiwedding.com
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To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Holiday “Engagement Season” Set to Spark Wave of Hawaii Destination Wedding Bookings
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HONOLULU (KHON2) — A 40-year-old man was charged with assault after Honolulu police say he punched a Department of Education employee after an altercation at a basketball game.
Some involved in athletics say it’s been a dangerous growing trend and could spoil things for other sports families.
At Moanalua High School last Thursday, Honolulu Police say the man got into an altercation with referees during a basketball game. And when the woman was escorting the refs outside when the game ended, the man confronted the group, his daughter got tangled with the school official, and he punched the woman.
“It has become tremendously crazy for, overall, in the past maybe 10 years,” said Alton Mamiya, Hawaii State Basketball Officials Association. “I would say officials have been assaulted way back in the day, too, but it hasn’t been this bad.”
It’s a growing problem in all sports in Hawaii. So much, that lawmakers introduced and passed a bill in 2023 that makes it a felony in some instances to attack a sports official.
“Being a sports official myself, I umpire baseball and softball, and I’ve seen how tense games can get,” said Rep. Andrew Takuya Garrett, who co-authored the bill. “Like any umpire, I’ve been on the receiving end of some verbal abuse. But again, just want to reiterate, there is no call, none whatsoever that justifies assaulting a sports official.”
“They all think that their children are going to be stars, they’re going to be, they should be going to college, they should be first string, they should be playing more,” said Rich Miano, football analyst. “And this is a problem that exists throughout every level.”
“I think some parents envision their child getting a full ride to college, and they want to make sure that they have every opportunity to pursue that,” said Garrett.
Because of all this, sports officials are leaving the game. One group found that 50,000 sports officials across the country stopped working since 2019 because of these issues. And it’s no different here. Mamiya says he’s severely understaffed and unable to retain new people.
“Once they come out and they hear all this kind of stuff, they don’t want to officiate because liability for them,” said Mamiya. “And they have other, this is not their full-time job. This is their part-time job to exercise and get on the court and give back to the community and give back to these kids.”
“And when someone attacks a sports official, it really threatens the entire system,” said Garrett. “Games can get canceled, leagues lose officials, and ultimately, kids are the ones who pay the price.”
“Please understand that we’re not here to go against you,” said Mamiya. “We’re trying to help the sport.”
The man was charged with second-degree assault, with bail set at $15,000. The DOE had no comment.
“To me, those people need to be indicted,” said Miano. “That’s a police intervention. That’s physical assault. And we should not have that in our society.”
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