While tourism certainly brings in revenue from outside the community, not all of its economic impacts have been positive. Over-reliance on tourism can decrease resilience to disturbances that affect travel, such as covid, changes in tourist habits, and fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a database<\/a> provided by the Hawai\u2019i Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, Maui County relies on tourism to generate between 2.5 and 3.5 billion dollars per year, or approximately one third of the county\u2019s GDP1<\/a><\/sup>. In 2020, tourism rates plummeted due to covid, causing them to lose over two billion dollars in tourism revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tourism numbers have also dropped<\/a> after the recent fire in Maui prompted Hawai\u2019i\u2019s governor to discourage travelers from visiting the island, depriving tourism-dependent businesses of a significant portion of their revenue2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cost of housing has increased dramatically in Maui. According to a database<\/a> provided by the Hawai\u2019i Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), the median cost of a single-family home broke $1M in 20223<\/a><\/sup>, and this has contributed to declining public perception of tourism throughout the state. According to the University of Hawai\u2019i Economic Research Organization (UHERO<\/a>), \u201cIn 2024, 75 percent of those who thought tourism problems outweighed benefits cited higher cost of living as a problem\u201d4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a DBEDT report<\/a>, the presence of resorts may make housing more expensive because affordable housing is not often placed near resorts5<\/a><\/sup>. The report states that “resort workers in places like West Hawai\u2019i and parts of Maui and Kaua\u2019i are hard-pressed to find affordable housing near their workplaces, and must commute long distances.” To make affordable housing more equitable and accessible to resort workers, zoning could be changed to allow affordable housing to be built near resorts. This would make transportation more affordable and open these jobs up to people with limited transportation options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent report<\/a> by UHERO shows that wage increases have not been sufficient to keep up with rising housing and living costs6<\/a><\/sup>. And according to Aloha United Way’s ALICE Report<\/a>, the state’s current $16\/hour minimum wage is not sufficient to meet the “current survival budget of $19.69\/hour for a working adult”7<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Decreased Resilience While tourism certainly brings in revenue from outside the community, not all of its economic impacts have been positive. Over-reliance on tourism can decrease resilience to disturbances that affect travel, such as covid, changes in tourist habits, and fires. According to a database provided by the Hawai\u2019i Department of Business, Economic Development & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"c1920d96-bcaa-4979-ba39-cef44b1b6364\",\"content\":\"Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. (2024, December). Tourism and Hawaii Economy. https:\\\/\\\/files.hawaii.gov\\\/dbedt\\\/economic\\\/data_reports\\\/download\\\/Tourism%20and%20Hawaii%20Economy_Dec2024.pdf<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"517e6588-a947-4608-978a-b0b09e50a2ca\",\"content\":\"The New York Times. (2026, February 3). Revisiting a changed Maui, nearly 3 years after a firestorm. https:\\\/\\\/www.nytimes.com\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/03\\\/travel\\\/maui-fires-tourism.html<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"369303e4-a32a-41fa-9716-957c46d8d2ab\",\"content\":\"Economic data warehouse<\\\/em>. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2026, from https:\\\/\\\/dbedt.hawaii.gov\\\/economic\\\/datawarehouse\\\/<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"7f144cc4-451b-4b42-adf6-86b9012a1d2a\",\"content\":\"UHERO. (2025, September 18). How do industry views of tourism in hawai\\u2018i compare with residents and visitors? UHERO<\\\/em>. https:\\\/\\\/uhero.hawaii.edu\\\/how-do-industry-views-of-tourism-in-hawaii-compare-with-residents-and-visitors\\\/<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"cc86a27f-ffb9-449b-a445-d8d2d3097535\",\"content\":\"Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. (2004, July). Planning for sustainable tourism. https:\\\/\\\/files.hawaii.gov\\\/dbedt\\\/visitor\\\/sustainable-tourism-project\\\/drafts\\\/General-Pop-Socio-Cultural-Report.pdf<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"fe2e3b40-c141-44b9-aa9b-aa4eccbc1cc7\",\"content\":\"UHERO. (2026, February 1). Beyond the price of paradise: is Hawai'i being left behind? UHERO.<\\\/em> https:\\\/\\\/uhero.hawaii.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/BeyondThePriceOfParadise.pdf<\\\/a>\"},{\"id\":\"bb14c86d-dc49-4a5f-97e4-c2d65c70eccc\",\"content\":\"Aloha United Way. (2024, May 22). Financial stability in hawai\\u2018i: Understanding the 2024 alice data update<\\\/em>. Aloha United Way. https:\\\/\\\/www.auw.org\\\/alice-in-hawaii-2024-report\\\/<\\\/a>\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/mauisustainabletourism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Higher Cost of Living<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Insufficient Minimum Wage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
References<\/h2>\n\n\n