The presence of tourists divides a Hawaii devastated by the fires

2023-08-17 19:00:22

“This is not the time to do it tourism. 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 paradise badly of Hawaii and in which more than a hundred people have died. His message is in line with what has been requested by local authorities, who want to temporarily slow down arrivals to the archipelago to focus on rebuilding cities like Lahainareduced to ashes.

The vast majority of tourists he paid attention Some 46,000 people have left the island since it was devastated by the natural disaster biggest in its history. Many were evacuated when the flames they hadn’t gone out yet. As of last Sunday, the number of passenger arrivals had dropped nearly 81 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism collected by Reuters. The low presence ofplanes to 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, awakening the indignation of the locals “The tourists are bathing in the same waters where our people died three days ago,” a Maui resident 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 fires and the bubble of visitors who continue to stay in the glamorous hotel complexes of the less affected south-west.

“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 networkscontrasts with his economic reality. Maui depends on tourism. 80% of his wealth is nourished by this sector, according to its development board. About 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 of the United States.

This reality, easily observable from the ground, is what has led Hawaii’s authorities to debate what to do. While the teams of rescue they continue to scan the land affected by the fires in search of possible dead, the Government is studying all the 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. And a lot

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The dilemma they face now is similar to what was experienced at the beginning of the pandemic Covid-19, when a border closure was considered. “All our people will need to survive, and we cannot afford not to have jobs or a future for our children,” he explained Josh Green, Governor of Hawaii. “When you restrict any travel to a region, you really devastate your own local residents in many ways more than anyone else.”

“No one has told us anything”

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has asked visitors to avoid traveling to the western area of ​​Maui, where Lahaina is located. This restriction will not affect Iñaki and his family, who in two weeks will start a maritime route through the archipelago in a cruise ship from Norwegian Line Cruises. “To our surprise, no one has told us anything”, explains this 59-year-old from Barcelona. “Neither the cruise company nor the El Corte Inglés agency with which we contracted everything are talking about what has happened, so we are waiting.” Their cruise will only dock for two nights in the port of Maui, in the north of the island, and they planned to visit the eastern area, alien to the fire. “If in the end they decide that we don’t stop in Maui, then bad luck, that’s what it is,” he says. “You know these things can happen.”