2023-08-17 19:39:00
“This is not the time to do turismo. Please don’t come on vacation to Maui“. With these words, the actor Jason Momoa tried last weekend to raise awareness among his followers about the fires that have devastated the paradisiacal isla of Hawaii and in which more than a hundred people have died. His message is in line with what the local authorities have requested, who want to temporarily stop arrivals in the archipelago to focus on rebuilding cities such as Lahainareduced to ashes.
The vast majority of tourists he has listened Some 46,000 people have left the island since it was devastated by the biggest natural disaster in its history. Many were evacuated when the llamas they hadn’t turned off yet. As of Sunday, the number of passenger arrivals was down nearly 81% compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism collected by Reuters. The little presence of planes on the island, especially from outside the archipelago, can also be seen on the map of Flight Radar 24website that tracks flights around the world.
Others, however, have chosen to ignore the requests of the Hawaiian government, raising the indignation of the premises. “Tourists are bathing in the same waters where our people died three days ago,” a Maui citizen told the BBC. The British medium portrays an island divided into two classes: the residents who work to recover the corpses and the homes they have lost to the fires and the bubble of visitors who continue to stay in the less affected glamorous hotel complexes of the Southwest.
“The same waters that our people just died in three days ago, are the same waters the very next day, these visitors, tourists were swimming in.”
Maui has been devastated by wildfires, resulting in a tragic loss of life, with a death toll of over 93 people. pic.twitter.com/Bt4SF9InM4
— In Context (@incontextmedia) August 16, 2023
Maui needs tourists
The discomfort of many locals, channeled through social mediacontrasts with his economic reality. Maui depends on tourism. 80% of your wealth It feeds on that sector, according to its development board. Some 2.9 million tourists visited the island in 2022, spending approximately $5.69 billion. On the other hand, less than 165,000 people reside there, according to the census data from United States.
That reality, easily observable from the ground, is what has led the Hawaiian authorities to debate what they should do. While the teams of rescue They continue to scour the land affected by the fires in search of possible deceased, the Government studies all possibilities. The priority is to solve the immediate needs of the residents and build new homes so that they can continue with their lives. However, the financial health of the island also weighs heavily. And a lot.
The dilemma they face now is similar to the one experienced at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. covid-19, when a border closure was considered. “All of our people will need to survive, and we cannot afford not having a job or a future for our children,” he explained. Josh Green, Governor of Hawaii. “When you restrict any travel to a region, it really devastates its own local residents in more ways than anyone else.”
“No one has told us anything”
The Hawaii Tourism Authority has asked visitors to avoid traveling to the western part of Maui, where Lahaina is located. This restriction will not affect Iñaki and his family, who in two weeks will begin a maritime route through the archipelago in a cruise from Norwegian Line Cruises. “To our surprise, nobody has told us anything,” explains the 59-year-old from Barcelona. “Neither the cruise company nor the El Corte Inglés agency with which we contracted everything speak of what has happened, so we are waiting.” Her cruise will only dock two nights in the port of Maui, in the north of the island, and they had planned to visit the eastern area, far from the fire. “If in the end they decide that we don’t stop in Maui, then bad luck, it is what it is,” he says. “You know these things can happen.”
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