The Surfing Goat Dairy, on the slopes of Maui’s Haleakala Volcano about an hour away from Lahaina, has seen business plummet 90% or more since the wildfire tragedy.
were reported safe. authorities made public the names on thursday asking survivors to come forward, so they could focus their efforts on locating the still missing. the official death toll from the fires currently stands at 115. my collegue, sumi somaskanda, spoke to representative sean quinlan. he s a member of hawaii s house of representatives and the chair of its tourism committee. they discussed the recovery and the impact the fires have had on maui s tourism industry. it is very good you happy with us. i want to start with where things are at the moment. hawaii officials releasing a list of almost 400 people who are still missing. how are recovery efforts going? we are still very much recovery efforts going? we are still very much in recovery efforts going? we are still very much in assessment. still very much in assessment and recovery mode. we have sent home about half of the cadaver sniffing dogs that we still have. portions of the town that we have to search. find have. p
and the chair of the tourism committee, going to go about walking that line between recovery and rebuilding? well, i ve ust recovery and rebuilding? well, i ve just come recovery and rebuilding? well, i ve just come from recovery and rebuilding? well, i ve just come from a - recovery and rebuilding? well, i ve just come from a meeting| i ve just come from a meeting on maui with a lot of the small businesses that are a part of the visitor industry, and they would like to take the lead. they would like the message to come from them, to come from those small business owners, to say, this is how we feel as a maui small business owner. we want to share our culture with the visitors, and please come and visit us, because we depend on you. and visit us, because we depend on ou. , ., , ., on you. interesting to get your perspective on you. interesting to get your perspective on on you. interesting to get your perspective on the on you. interesting to get your perspective on the stor
and minds are. you don t see our people swimming, snorkeling, surfing. nobody is having fun in tragedy and continuing their lives like nothing has happened. there is two hawaiis right now. there is the hawaii we re living in and the hawaii they re living in, they re visiting in. so you see a local there, sean, saying there are two hawaiis. do you worry that encouraging tourists to come to south maui could alienate locals? yes, i do. and the resentment towards tourism has been building for over a decade. and it s not unique to maui. i think you can see it on on all islands. i think that in some cases we may have brought in too many tourists. i think that we haven t done a very good job at addressing hot spots that lack infrastructure that have drawn many tourists. but at some point. ..we have to get people back to work and they need jobs to support their families, to pay their rent, to put food on the table. the situation in maui, our economic situation is, i think, more precarious
like nothing has happened. there is two hawaiis right now. there is the hawaii we re living in and the hawaii they re living in, they re visiting in. so you see a local there, sean, saying there are two hawaiis. do you worry that encouraging tourists to come to south maui could alienate locals? yes, i do. and the resentment towards tourism has been building for over a decade. and it s not unique to maui. i think you can see it on on all islands. i think that in some cases we may have brought in too many tourists. i think that we haven t done a very good job at addressing hot spots that lack infrastructure that have drawn many tourists. but at some point. we have to get people back to work and they need jobs to support their families, to pay their rent, to put food on the table. the situation in maui, our economic situation is, i think,