The island of Maui currently has an image problem, and Hawaii is spending $6 million to try and fix it.
"We know there's still some hesitancy about traveling to Maui,” said Caroline Anderson, interim president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). “There were things in the media a while back, where there were concerns that the community wasn't ready to welcome back visitors. So, we just want to make sure travelers know the [Maui] community is ready to welcome visitors back.”
On June 2, the HTA announced a $6 million marketing campaign to accelerate Maui’s tourism recovery. Spearheaded by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) — the destination’s U.S. marketing organization — the initiative will focus on boosting travel demand to Maui for this summer and through the end of 2025 while also supporting the island’s businesses, preserving Maui jobs and restoring visitor confidence to the destination, according to the HTA.
If we can restore confidence in travel to Maui and bring the visitors back, it will definitely help Maui's economy.
"Maui needs help, and we need to recover the visitor industry,” Anderson said, noting that tourism is the island’s largest economic driver. “The hotels are open, restaurants are open. … And we feel it’s time now for visitors to come back and enjoy what Maui has to offer. We also want to bring our local [Maui] businesses into the mix because we know they're hurting right now. If we can restore confidence in travel to Maui and bring the visitors back, it will definitely help Maui's economy.”
Maui stakeholders say there is still hesitancy about visiting Maui.
Credit: 2025 Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) / Tor JohnsonBoosting Maui Bookings
Along with targeted media pushes and social campaigns, the HVCB is also partnering with wholesalers such as Pleasant Holidays, Classic Vacations and ALG Vacations to create and sell Hawaii vacation packages that prioritize Maui.
The word needs to get out there more because I think there's still the thought that Maui is not ready for tourists.
“In L.A., for example, they just had Maui Week, with a bunch of people doing PR campaigns — they’re on the news; they’re on morning talk shows,” said David Hu, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays. “And we're trying to piggyback off that, trying to make sure we’re in the marketplace with great promotions to basically capture and convert that demand.”
Hu agreed, meanwhile, that Maui’s vacation sales would benefit from an increase in messaging that reminds potential visitors it’s okay to return.
Visitor arrivals are still down 21% across the island of Maui today when compared with pre-pandemic totals.
Credit: 2025 Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) / Tor Johnson“I think certain people for a period of time felt like it was clearly a ‘non-PC’ thing to go on vacation when people were suffering,” Hu said. “But what the HTA and HVCB are saying is, ‘It's okay. Maui residents want you to go, and if you don't go, it makes it harder for them to recover.’ So many people have tourism industry jobs there, and people need to be able to support themselves, so your tourism dollars help.”
More than 100 people died in the Aug. 8 wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023 and displaced another 8,000 residents who called the small West Maui town home. And while the rebuilding effort in Lahaina has been underway for some time, tourism recovery to the island remains sluggish.
Maui visitor arrivals are still down 21% today when compared with pre-COVID-19 totals, according to the HTA.
Overzealous Pricing?
Longtime Maui seller Kari Mollan, a Stellar Travel advisor based in Bellevue, Washington, said her business to Maui started out very slow this year, due in part to hotel pricing.
“First quarter was really soft,” Mollan said. “And I felt prices were really inflated for what the four-star hotels were asking. Five-star — you expect them to be inflated. But I felt like the four-star hotels were asking way more than they should have been.”
Mollan says she’s seen some of those Maui room costs drop, however, in recent weeks.
"One Maui booking I had has come down twice in price since we booked it initially,” she said. “So, I feel like the hoteliers are starting to think, ‘Oh, I guess we got a little overzealous with our pricing.’”
One Maui booking I had has come down twice in price since we booked it initially.
Longtime Maui resident and travel advisor Kathy Takushi, who owns Captivating Journeys in Haiku, Maui, said her business to the island has been really slow this year, but she’s also seeing Maui vacation prices drop lately.
"I have clients here right now, and when I did their car rental for nine nights, it started out around $750,” Takushi recalled. “But I kept checking and checking, and it ultimately dropped all the way down to about $430.”
Takushi added that she’s also seen a notable drop in hotel room prices, but she agreed with Pleasant Holidays’ Hu and the HTA’s Anderson about the genuine need for more amplified Maui messaging.
“The word needs to get out there more because I think there's still the thought that Maui is not ready for tourists,” Takushi said. “The resorts are fully open; the restaurants are open. … The whole island is open and ready to welcome visitors.”
Takushi also emphasized the key role tourism inherently plays in Maui’s recovery.
"It's imperative to have visitors come,” she said. “So many of our residents are in the hospitality industry — whether it's at the hotels or the shops or the restaurants. So, if we don't have any visitors, people lose their jobs.”
