Is Kauai’s Aloha Spirit in Peril?
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.01.08 | 11:42 AM ET
Photo of Napali coast by Tourist visits to Kauai reached record numbers last year: 1.27 million people made the trip to the Garden Island. A slew of construction projects—many around the resorts of Poipu—are in the works. Locals are worrying about the future. Writes Laura Bly in USA Today: “[O]ver the past few years, as tourism kicked into high gear and the island’s 63,000 residents wound down from rebuilding efforts following 1992’s devastating Category 4 Hurricane Iniki, frustration levels have swelled like north shore surf during a winter storm.”
Among locals’ chief concerns are rising real estate prices and traffic on the island’s narrow roads.
An editorial in The Garden Island newspaper noted a recent assault on a visitor, apparently prompted by a traffic accident, and observed:
Maybe aloha is dead. It can be interpreted as an idea whose time has passed. Living aloha is built on the precept that “I welcome you by showing you that all is mine is open to you.” It is a beautiful idea. The problem lies in the fact that the rest of the world has come to Kaua’i.
The island’s mayor put it a little more delicately, telling Bly: “Finding a balance between a good economy and quality of life is where we’re at.”
Long live aloha.
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
Dan Shepherd 02.01.08 | 4:31 PM ET
I have spent one week a year for each of the past four years on Kaua’i and cannot report feeling resented by locals. I don’t dispute that locals may be upset by their home being inundated but I’ve only experienced wonderful people and attitudes. Kauai is a fabulous place with fabulous people in my humble opinion. Long live Aloha!
Carolyn 02.01.08 | 6:22 PM ET
I have had the honor of traveling to Kaua’i. I do not see the loss of the spirit of Aloha. While it is true that the building projects are enormous-so is the aloha spirit. The people of the islands are aloha to me. Aloha thrives in the islands from Moloka’i to Lani to Maui-it is what makes this place so special.
phil 02.01.08 | 6:54 PM ET
forgive me for this, but why do you feel the need to uselessly rehash the usatoday article instead of writing anything unique or useful? can’t you find anything of your own to say? this is destroying the blogosphere in my opinion.
Jim Benning 02.01.08 | 7:17 PM ET
hi phil,
we do a mix of summarizing and commentary and original reporting and essays. this piece happened to include more quoting, because laura bly does great work and i thought it was particularly noteworthy, but world hum is loaded with original essays and commentary. i encourage you to spend some time reading our other blog items, as well as our dispatches, speaker’s corner essays, interviews, audio slide shows, how-to’s, ask rolfs, book reviews and lists.
sable 02.02.08 | 12:36 PM ET
this is an issue that all of us living in hawaii struggle with on a daily basis. i was on kauai in august of 07 and was shocked to see what the north shore had become. it was literally just crawling with tourists from princeville to the end of the road. what once was a tranquil, scenic drive had become clogged with cars parked all along the narrow road (illigally). 99% were tourist cars. I saw locals driveways blocked bu the tourist that just had to jump out and snap a photo. Parking at the beach was like a bad day at the strip mall. Honestly I think Kauai has a big problem with the number of tourists flooding the island. ask any local what they really think and they will tell you. too much already…yes i understand very deeply the meaning of aloha, but i also see a lot of tourists who have no concept and are rude, thoughtless and very disrespectful. i’m sure many of them don’t know they are being disrespectful..but it gets very tiring for those of us who live here to see our beautiful islands being overrun by too many people…kauai is not alone when it comes to these problems, I’ve seen the same on maui, big island and of course oahu. the difference is kauai is very, very samll and the impact is much more evident….
Neil Petersen 02.04.08 | 12:08 PM ET
Having been a Marriott time-share owner since 1999, I am saddened to see how the natural beauty of Kauai is being compromised by developers who are profit oriented. The culture of native Kauai will soon disappear if this trend continues. A native can no longer afford reasonable housing and have to leave their homeland in order to survive. The infra-structure on the Island has long since been out-dated and can not support further expansion. At some point in time, the elements that attract tourists to Kauai will fail to maintain this status and will go elsewhere. Then what? Who will pay the price? Surely not the local population who earn well below the median income. Without the tourism dollars, Kauai will shrivel and die.
It’s time that the Kauain people demand that their elected officials look out for their welfare rather than cater to large corporate money people.
Toronto Condos 04.30.08 | 10:49 AM ET
I do not see the loss of the spirit of Aloha. While it is true that the building projects are enormous-so is the aloha spirit. The people of the islands are aloha to me. Aloha thrives in the islands from Moloka’i to Lani to Maui-it is what makes this place so special.
Toronto Luxury Condos
makikone 05.15.08 | 4:28 AM ET
OK, first of all, i don’t know the last time you came to kauai but it must of been a long time ago cuz us locals are super pissed about more haoles moving here and taking over our land. if your visit was recent, then the people who are nice to u are probably the ones getting paid to do so. if the people who were nice and aloha to u were people in random places like at kukui grove mall, then it was probably “local” haoles who just moved here. u haoles are taking over our land which is why we might be “rude” or “mean”. i might be racist right now but it’s for a good cause. if you’d like to know y, just look up the hawaiian overthrow on google or sumtin. and all those rumors about hawaiians being dumb and not able 2 spell, that’s BS. we just like cutting the words shorter. so if you’re planning on coming 2 hawaii for a visit, u might as well unpack all ur stuff and cancel ur flight cuz we get enuff shit with the superferry going on right now.
shoots den