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How Hawaii is trying to save Haena State Park, a Kauai tourist hotspot that s been loved to death
Michele Bigley
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Loved to death: Haena State Park is a popular destination for many visitors.Getty Images
It used to be her favorite beach on the North Shore of Kauai, but Mehana Blaich Vaughan hated taking her children to over-touristed Haena State Park. Like many Hawaiian families from the Hanalei region, she never imagined she could show her kids the Ke’e Beach of her childhood a sacred swath of white sand abundant with humuhumunukunukuapuaa, the Hawaiian state fish, with “crystal clean water and no cigarette butts in the sand.”
Kauai Businesses: ‘We Can’t Survive’ Without Travel - Honolulu Civil Beat
Kauai Businesses: ‘We Can’t Survive’ Without Travel
With tourism effectively canceled for the 2020 holiday season, a number of Kauai resorts and businesses are closing again some for good. Reading time: 7 minutes.
In November, after a seven-month shutdown because of the coronavirus, Kauai’s largest hotel brought back nearly half its staff of 900 and reopened to the public as demand for a Garden Isle vacation suddenly surged following the implementation of the state’s new pre-travel testing program.
Occupancy rates at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa were less than half of what they would typically be during the buildup to the holiday season, said Katy Britzmann, the sales and marketing director for the Poipu resort.