Hawaii Governor Talks Sports Tourism, Climate, Rentals

Tourists will see a new, more resilient Maui next year thanks to spending billions by the Hawaiian government, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

It’s been more than a year since a wildfire destroyed thousands of buildings and homes and killed more than 100 people in West Maui, making it one of the deadliest disasters in US history.

Even though it only affected 10% of the island, news of the event left the public with the impression that the island was closed to tourism.

Spending by visitors to Maui totaled $3.5 billion between January and August, down 20 percent from last year, according to latest state government data. Maui is the second most popular island in Hawaii for tourism.

Green spoke with Skift about rebuilding Maui, reducing short-term rentals, attracting sports tourism events and financing climate change resilience.

Maui is rebuilding

According to the governor, 2024 was about laying the “groundwork” for recovery, while 2025 will be about “deploying” resources.

All remnants of the disasters have been removed. Hotels are ready to accommodate visitors, and FEMA is joining with local governments to build new housing units.

“Thousands of houses will rise, and small businesses will gradually return. People will see the recovery in real time,” Green said.

Green predicted significant interest from repeat tourists who have previously visited Maui for honeymoons, anniversaries or special events.

“They will want to come back and see the joy that comes with rebuilding people’s lives,” he said.

Short-term rent reduction: ‘We must have housing for local families’

The wildfire crisis has highlighted Maui’s affordable housing shortage. More than 8,000 people were displaced. The government initially contracted with hotels to house them temporarily. Over time, the government had to find several alternative accommodations. It paid short-term rental owners “very competitive rates” to house them, Green said.

However, the governor said it has become apparent that demand for short-term rentals is so high that it is depleting housing for local residents.

“People who own short-term rentals earned about 385 percent more than they get from regular rentals,” Green said. “I’m a capitalist like everyone else, but we have to have housing for local families. That’s why we have hotel rooms and entertainment districts.”

Green wants to “phase some” of short-term rentals into the residential housing market. “Hopefully people will decide to sell their short-term rentals if they can and invest in other parts of the state or the mainland,” he said.

To free up more housing, Green earlier this year signed a bill that clarifies the authority of county governments to regulate the time, place, manner and duration of land use, particularly transitional housing, including short-term rentals.

Empowered by the new legislation, local Maui officials are considering phasing out thousands of short-term rentals.

Lahaina’s future in tourism

Locals are currently deliberating over the future of Lahaina, a West Maui town completely devastated by the fire. Lahaina was once the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom and is home to cultural and natural landmarks.

Tourism will be part of Lahaina’s future. “There’s no doubt that Lahaina will continue to have a very, very tourism-focused economy,” Green said.

The governor highlighted the efforts of local organizations to restore Mokuʻula Island, which is considered sacred by locals.

Tourism to finance climate resilience in Hawaii

Since taking office, Green has focused on raising revenue to make Hawaii more resilient to hurricanes, wildfires and other climate change issues. The funds could be used to help fortify hotels, local businesses, beaches, parks and infrastructure against future risks such as storm surges and sea level rise.

“The truth is, historically, we haven’t invested at all in climate resilience, and look what’s happened,” Green said.

Some ideas for funding these plans include charging tourists an impact fee, increasing the transient lodging tax or using part of the government’s $1.5 billion rainy day fund. Earlier this year, he proposed charging tourists a $25 climate impact fee.

“I think most travelers, if they knew they were paying $500 a night, would be happy to contribute $10 a day to make sure we have extra fire or flood resilience. I think they would be pretty excited because they love Hawaii,” Green said.

The state plans to bet on live events.

“We do a lot of sports tourism. You’re going to start seeing it in 2025,” Green said.

Hawaii watches pre-Olympic swimming, running and other competitions. Positioned between Asia and Los Angeles (host city for the 2028 Olympics), Hawaii is an excellent location for these pre-Olympic events.

“We’re looking to host some pre-Olympic friendlies before 2028 if we can,” Green said.

Hawaii plans to host Las Vegas friends and family reunions centered around sporting events. Because of its large population of Hawaiians, Las Vegas has been dubbed the ninth island.

Since the Maui wildfires, the state has also strengthened its ties to the NFL. Many teams have donated to Hawaii, including the Steelers, Rams and Raiders.

The governor hopes to host more significant sporting events once the new Aloha Stadium is built in Hālawa.

“I’d like to see some regular-season football here, rather than in Europe or other markets, once we get the stadium done,” Green said. “It would be smart to do them in Hawaii if they can build a proper stadium.”

A balanced approach to tourism

Since the pandemic, when visits have fallen, Hawaii has focused more on encouraging travelers to stay “a few days longer” and have a more “immersive” experience while managing visitor numbers to prevent certain locations from being overrun.

“We’re using our Hawaii Tourism Authority team to reveal this,” Green said. “(Tourism) is actually more balanced now than it used to be.”

The Hawaii tourism authority now has “a solid budget” and “a very strong board that we purposefully created so that it can work with the legislature,” the governor said.

“I tell the guys over there, make sure my return is very significant because I have to fund solutions for education, homelessness, climate resilience and housing,” he said.

Skift’s in-depth reporting on climate issues is made possible by the financial support of Intrepid Travel. This support enables Skift to bring you high-quality journalism on one of the most important topics facing our planet today. Intrepid is not involved in any decisions made by the Skift editorial team.