Hawaii is getting too expensive to visit.

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gfh77665

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gfh77665 said:
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/hawa...0-million-annually-climate-ecology-protection

Hawaii is super expensive anyway, and now they add more fees for visitors and tourists. I think it will be a diminishing return, people won't want to go there anymore. Go to a tropical paradise in the Caribbean for a fraction of the price. Roatan and Grand Cayman are our favorites. Or even the Florida beaches, etc.
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Lucky we stay at relatives places plus maybe just maybe son in law next assignment HI (after Kodiak)

That said @The Critic is most likely correct.
 
gfh77665 said:
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/hawa...0-million-annually-climate-ecology-protection

Hawaii is super expensive anyway, and now they add more fees for visitors and tourists. I think it will be a diminishing return, people won't want to go there anymore. Go to a tropical paradise in the Caribbean for a fraction of the price. Roatan and Grand Cayman are our favorites. Or even the Florida beaches, etc.
Click to expand...

I have a few friends that have been doing this for a long time. One friend in particular travels to tropical beach locations two or three times a year, and has been doing it for decades. She does it on a modest budget. Hawaii has never been one of here destinations. She can do three of four of her other trips for the price of one to Hawaii.
 
gfh77665 said:
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/hawa...0-million-annually-climate-ecology-protection

Hawaii is super expensive anyway, and now they add more fees for visitors and tourists. I think it will be a diminishing return, people won't want to go there anymore. Go to a tropical paradise in the Caribbean for a fraction of the price. Roatan and Grand Cayman are our favorites. Or even the Florida beaches, etc.
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me, these places can tend to get ruined by tourism, and Hawaii is already a destination for those who don't care much about the price, so why not? If people don't like it, there's lots of similar climate places that are much cheaper.
 
Hawaii is also a big draw for Japanese vacationers, with ANA offering three non-stop dailies to HNL, two of which are A380s and JAL offering a whopping seven on this route, although nothing close to the capacity of an A380. You can reach other islands on various flights, but these look like tags to the flights to HNL.
Since it's costly to visit the islands to begin with, I doubt that the relatively minor increment of the tourist tax is going to matter.
FWIR, the islands are feeling a bit over-touristed anyway, so any minor drop in numbers would be welcome.
 
I think the biggest issue with cost to Hawaii is not really 3% of fees like this but rather plane tickets (jet fuel, labor cost) and hotel / airbnb.

It is over touristed already and the entire waikiki has become a high rise tourist trap with huge traffic jam. I like Hawaii for the nature but I'm not going there because it is cheap (only when I am going with others who really want to go). Personally I think you might end up with a better deal in Cabos or even Costa Rica instead if you want to go for tropical places.
 
We went to HI two years ago for our anniversary; stayed on a couple islands various days. I was less than impressed, for the money spent. Admittedly, there are some things that were really interesting and emotional (the Arizona, Missouri, sub museum, etc); that was cool. The rest was very expensive stuff (dining, hotels, car rental, gas, etc) that simply can't be justified for me, personally. I do understand that most everything is imported to the islands, and so costs are going to be higher. But for the state to drive costs up even further? Even my wife, who's a beach nut and loves warm tropical weather, said it wasn't really worth the cost; there are mainland places just as nice for far less.

It's kinda like the Grand Canyon though; ya gotta see it at least once in your life.

HI is a nice place to visit once, and we'll never go back.
 
gfh77665 said:
Go to a tropical paradise in the Caribbean for a fraction of the price. Roatan and Grand Cayman are our favorites.
Click to expand...
SSSHHHHHH!!! Let them go to Hawaii if they want!

Though I do agree you can get a comparable or better experience in the Bahamas for a lot less, depending on where you go you can spend a ridiculous amount of money just on groceries. I mean one regular shopping cart maybe 3/4 full of just a few days of basics can easily push $300-$400 if you arent careful. Going to a restaurant wont help you. I havent been to Hawaii recently but I dont remember things being Bahamas-pricey when I was last there.
 
RedSpider said:
SSSHHHHHH!!! Let them go to Hawaii if they want!

Though I do agree you can get a comparable or better experience in the Bahamas for a lot less, depending on where you go you can spend a ridiculous amount of money just on groceries. I mean one regular shopping cart maybe 3/4 full of just a few days of basics can easily push $300-$400 if you arent careful. Going to a restaurant wont help you. I havent been to Hawaii recently but I dont remember things being Bahamas-pricey when I was last there.
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This is an example of where you come from really dictates the price. For us in the west coast Bahamas would be a lot more costly because of flight cost and extra day to fly.
 
fdcg27 said:
Hawaii is also a big draw for Japanese vacationers, with ANA offering three non-stop dailies to HNL, two of which are A380s and JAL offering a whopping seven on this route, although nothing close to the capacity of an A380. You can reach other islands on various flights, but these look like tags to the flights to HNL.
Since it's costly to visit the islands to begin with, I doubt that the relatively minor increment of the tourist tax is going to matter.
FWIR, the islands are feeling a bit over-touristed anyway, so any minor drop in numbers would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Relatively small amounts of taxes aren't going to really affect most people. And it's probably a lot less hassle for some who just don't want to get a passport to visit international destinations. Nevada has raised hotel taxes in the Vegas area, and that certainly hasn't slowed down visitation.
 
St. Johns, USVI, I think this is where Gregg got the inspiration for this album ;):

1748539536292.webp
 
It's really not that bad to go there. We do a week every couple years. We used to fly from Austin non stop for $550 on Hawaiian Airlines. They got rid of that flight it was a money loser.

We got 4 friends together and rented a house, and we rented a Jeep on a corporate discount.

Gas was $5.50 per gallon but honestly nothing else seemed way out of line as far as price goes. Yes everything was more but compared to Austin it wasn't terrible.
 
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