I live in Kauai and I’m posting this to see how others feel about this. I was living on Maui when the fires happened and through the pandemic. I saw a dramatic shift happen between 2016 and 2023 there. Many locals were becoming aggressive and rude towards tourists, to the point where the overall numbers are still down 2 years later due to viral videos on social media sharing experiences.
Kauai has gotten very divided in recent years due to the influx of wealthy people moving here driving the cost of everything up while the wages have stayed close to the same. Everywhere is short staffed and most of the time over booked. Getting a PCP appointment requires a few month wait period.
I have free housing right now and am currently just saving money while I figure out if I want to keep Kauai as a Homebase while I travel or do I just leave altogether and come back when I really miss it.
https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-middle-class-visitors-declining-21204477.php?
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I live on Kauai and I’m posting this to see how others feel about this. I was living on Maui when the fires happened and through the pandemic. I saw a dramatic shift happen between 2016 and 2023 there. Many locals were becoming aggressive and rude towards tourists, to the point where the overall numbers are still down 2 years later due to viral videos on social media sharing experiences.
Kauai has gotten very divided in recent years due to the influx of wealthy people moving here driving the cost of everything up while the wages have stayed close to the same. Everywhere is short staffed and most of the time over booked. Getting a PCP appointment requires a few month wait period.
I have free housing right now and am currently just saving money while I figure out if I want to keep Kauai as a Homebase while I travel or do I just leave altogether and come back when I really miss it.
My cousin and her husband went around 2019, and they stayed about a week. They told me for just the two of them, to really have a true Hawaii experience and actually visit the islands, take it all in, cost them about $10,000. My jaw about dropped, but thinking about it with flights, lodging, food, excursions, it made sense.
I can’t see a couple being able to do that for less than $12,500 or more now.
You can swap out Hawaii for Disneyworld or ski towns.
Yeah, don’t forget to throw in $800+ airplane tickets, which become $2000 tickets during school break.
Inflation is up and the middle class isn’t going to spend like it use to as cost of living is up. Only people that are, are people that are willing to go into debt or are what many would consider wealthy.
I’m glad I got to see Hawaii in the mid-2000’s before the beaches were littered (literally) with used meth pipes. My wife had a conference to attend there in 2023 and the difference was night and day. The locals really don’t want tourists there anyway, so stop traveling to Hawaii. Seriously. It’s that easy.
Honestly, that’s not horrible?
Like I’d guess hotels run $150-$200, meals probably $60-$80. That doesn’t seem super unreasonable to me.
Now we haven’t talked airfare or other transportation yet.
I lived on Oahu from ’85 to ’95, and i haven’t been back since. Zero interest in it. It was expensive to live there 40 years ago, and i got really sick to death if being called ‘tourist ” and “haole” everywhere i went.
It was not a place that was welcoming or friendly, just a superficial veneer of tolerance from people working in tourism jobs. Go to a grocery store or Costco and you had to have a thick skin.
Never been, no interest in going. It’s just a tropical island, the carribean is full of them and so is the south pacific. I’ve been to several, sand and palm trees are not that interesting to me
My sister has gone three times in one year. She lives on credit cards.
For the sake of native Hawaiians, I couldn’t be happier about this.
I’ve been there twice a few years ago when my brother was stationed on one of the military bases on the island. We had stayed at the Hale Koa hotel which is, if you know anything about that area, it’s right on Waikiki Beach.
I remember that when I was there, I spent about $2 grand on food and drink during my two week vacation, and my brother spent about the same. Honestly, I can’t remember a night that I didn’t spend there without a drink in my hand. Yeah, I was there to live it up. There’s just something about having a Mai Tai ten or so feet from the water’s edge.
As for the hotel, as I mentioned before, we stayed at the Hale Koa hotel which is discounted for people who are part of the military or retired military. Think four-star hotel/resort at a two-star price. I think it was about $150 to $175 a night back then. My airline ticket was about $1700—I upgraded from regular seating to whatever it’s called below first class.
All in all, I think I spent somewhere in the ballpark of $5 or $6 thousand.
I don’t even want to think about how much more expensive it is now.
Heck, we spend that just going to the beach towns for a day or two.
While still difficult to swallow, a significant amount of this change is just due to inflation. Inflation during the COVID years and today’s high tariff environment stacked up quickly. Just average inflation means that $196 in 2019 is equivalent to $249 today.
Never been there, but the impression I’ve always had is the locals don’t want visitors. At all. And you know what? That’s fine with me. I’d prefer knowing up front if the locals don’t want tourists.
Something that maybe locals can answer for me – does state government try to funnel the tourists to one island? If not…. Maybe do that? Or is there a consequence of that philosophy I’m not thinking about