We need to be able to give that place time to regenerate, time to reproduce.” “We cannot burn out these natural resource areas, whether it’s a coastal zone or whether it’s a mountain trail,” John De Fries, president and CEO of HTA, said. “No visitor wants to be at like Hanauma Bay if there’s like 3,000 other people there.” “We’re seeing systematically we have to manage visitor impacts, not only for the natural environment, but also for the communities, traffic, parking, all of those things,” Kalani Kaanaana, chief brand officer of HTA, told SFGATE. A 2021 Resident Sentiment Study from HTA also found the number of residents who feel that tourism is bringing more problems than benefits has increased since 2019. And while it reduced dramatically to 2.7 million in 2020, the number has risen sharply in 2021, and its trajectory is on a path to be back to a pre-COVID level of 10.1 million in 2024, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism projects.Īccording to a 2021 visitor study by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, complaints from visitors that Hawaii is becoming too crowded have risen within the past year. Hawaii received 10.4 million visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in 2019.

These follow the implementation of Haena State Park’s own reservation system launched in 2019 on Kauai, and Haleakala National Park’s reservation requirement for sunrise viewing in 2017 on Maui. Reservations became a requirement this year to visit Hanauma Bay on Oahu and Waianapanapa State Park in Hana, Maui. Instead, it will be necessary to check whether the hike or beach you really want to visit needs a reservation first, and that may mean waking up early weeks or a month or more in advance to try to secure it.Īdvance reservations are already required to visit some popular tourist spots, but there are more on the way.

No longer will you be able to drive up to popular tourist sites on a whim to visit. The visitor experience is changing in Hawaii. The park recently implemented a new reservation and fee system to manage visitors. The black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park is known around the world, but its popularity has also seen swarms of visitors.

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