HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – After mixed messages about tourism to Maui, the local economy is in decline, layoffs are increasing and businesses are struggling to stay open.
Evidence of how bad things are is immediately visible before landing at Kahului Airport. A sea of rental cars can be seen from above on a grassy field within the airport grounds.
Officials said the field is usually empty.
Special Section: Maui Wildfires
Maui wedding photographer Tara Lee Murphy visited Lahaina on Aug. 8 and snapped photos of the happy couple on Front Street just hours before the flames swept through the city.
“I started seeing everything unfold when I got home and it has continued to unfold ever since,” she said.
Like many other small business owners, Murphy is currently struggling to stay afloat due to fewer tourists visiting Maui and a bleak short- and medium-term outlook.
Immediately after the wildfires, the message “Maui is closed” spread on social media, leading to a flurry of cancellations. That’s despite tourism officials saying all but West Maui are open.
Jonathan Silva is a school counselor at King Kamehameha III Elementary School, which burned down. He also works in three hotels to make a living, but he is currently not working at all.
“Who’s going to help me? Who’s going to help the people in my canoe? I don’t want to tell people we’re all in the same boat. No way. People of Lahaina are on a completely different ship. Their boat burned down. They don’t have a boat,” he said.
“Another group of us is on another ship and we’re sinking.”
According to the Hawaii Tourism Board, just under 3,500 tourists visited Valley Isle each day this month. This is half the number from August last year.
“We’re in crisis upon crisis right now because not only is Lahaina taking an economic hit, but the rest of the island is taking an economic hit as well,” said business owner Maureen Bacon. Ta.
Business owners like Bacon want the world to know that while West Maui is closed, the rest of the island is still open and needs help now more than ever. .
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