More tourist hotspots in Hawaii will soon require reservations


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The black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park is known around the world, but its popularity has also drawn many visitors. The park recently introduced a new reservation and fee system to manage visitors.

Westend61 / Getty Images / Westend61

The Hawaiian visitor experience is changing. You will no longer be able to drive to popular attractions on a whim. Instead, you need to first check whether the hike or beach you want to visit really needs to be reserved.

Advance reservations are required to visit some popular tourist attractions, but more are to come.

Reservations became a requirement for a visit this year Hanauma Bay on Oahu and Waianapanapa State Park in Hana, Maui. These follow the implementation of Haena State Park‘s own reservation system, introduced in Kauai in 2019, and Haleakala National Park’s reservation requirement for Sunrise observation 2017 on Maui.

Hawaii Received 10.4 million visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in 2019. And while it dropped dramatically to 2.7 million in 2020, the number rose sharply in 2021, and is on its way back to 10.1 levels in 2024 Millions to come back before COVID that State Ministry for Economy, Economic Development and Tourism Projects.

According to a 2021 visitor study by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, complaints from visitors that Hawaii is getting too crowded has increased over the past year. A 2021 Resident Sentiment Study conducted by HTA also found that the number of residents who believe tourism poses more problems than benefits has increased since 2019.

“We see that we need to systematically manage the impact of visitors, not just for the natural environment, but also for the communities, traffic, parking and all those things,” Kalani Kaanaana, HTA’s chief brand officer, told SFGATE . “No visitor would want to be in Hanauma Bay like this when there are around 3,000 other people.”

“We cannot burn out these natural resource areas, whether it is a coastal zone or a mountain trail,” said John De Fries, President and CEO of HTA. “We can’t burn it out around the clock, 365 days a year. We have to give this place time to regenerate, time to reproduce. “

HTA released Action plans for destination management (DMAPs) this year for Maui Nui (Maui, Molokai, and Lanai), Kauai, Hawaii Island, and Oahu. The plans promote regenerative tourism, the newest catchphrase in the industry it basically means leaving a place better than it was, or in three generations in better shape than it is today. The DMAPs were created with this concept in mind and outline measures to prevent overcrowding, improve the environment and offer residents a better quality of life.

Visitor hotspots that must be addressed are listed in the DMAPs. These include the Maunawili Falls and Koko Head Trail on Oahu, the Pools of Oheo on Maui, the Wailua River State Park on Kauai, and the Waipio Valley on the Island of Hawaii. However, HTA is not yet able to confirm which, if any, of these locations will require future reservations. However, Leahi (aka Diamond Head), which can exceed 50,000 visitors per month, is already considered.

Diamond Head could soon set up a reservation system.

Diamond Head could soon set up a reservation system.

Gate Johnson / Hawaii Tourism Authority

HTA does not yet know how many reservation systems there will be, but Kaanaana has said that there will be no limit on the number. Instead, the decision is made based on need.

As soon as more systems go live and visitor numbers are checked at a hotspot, managing other locations requires a lot of observation and waiting to see how people’s movements flow up and down to other locations. These additional reservation systems are intended to help balance the flow of visitors to the islands.

Similarly, each hotspot manages its own visitor traffic and decides how to change its operations based on data and changing needs.

“There is no uniform recipe for dealing with sensitive cultural resources, sensitive natural resources and a fluctuating visitor industry.” said Curt Cottrell, Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of State Parks Administrator, in a video about the new policy. Haena State Park now has a daily capacity of 900; The park received around 2,000 visitors a day before the capacity limits were set.

“Even the way the parking is managed,” continued Cottrell. “There are 100 spaces and we know that the spaces for the visitors are sold out every day, but we are trying to reserve a certain number of parking spaces for the residents as this was the promise that our residents also needed access, but there is no magic sweet spot in assigning these numbers. “

Accessibility for residents of Hawaii also varies by location. Haena State Park, for example, does not require reservations for Hawaii residents; However, everyone needs a reservation to watch the sunrise in Haleakala.

The DMAPs mention “Kamaaina Days” as an area to explore for Hawaiian residents. This could potentially give residents more access on weekends, but HTA says there is no one-size-fits-all model.

Since the introduction of Hanauma Bay’s reservation system in April, the park has continuously modified its system to cater to both tourists and residents. Currently the capacity is designed for 1,500 visitors per day, which is about half the average park before the COVID-19 illness.

Hanauma Bay has a 2-week study last July allowed residents to enter without reservation throughout the day. This resulted in the current regulation, which only allows residents to enter without a reservation in the first two hours of operation from Wednesday to Sunday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

“We chose the first two hours of non-reservation-free local access after the pilot program to accommodate a large contingent of local conservation area visitors who regularly come to the bay in the morning,” said Nathan Serota, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Parks & Recreation, told SFGATE in an email with.

“We are trying to see how we can further increase the residents’ access to the bay, while at the same time taking into account capacity limits and our staffing capacities.”

Switching to the reservation system is not without its challenges, even for residents. Erika Sato Bar-David, a 28-year-old Oahu resident, believes reservations are necessary to manage densely populated tourist attractions but hopes residents get fair access.

“I woke up at 6:30 am, 30 minutes early to make a reservation by 7:00 am. “Bar-David told SFGATE about her experience when her mother was in town trying to reserve time in Hanauma Bay.

“I don’t think it’s fair that tourists sometimes have more access than the people who are the lifeblood of the place they are visiting.”

Bar-David is not alone. It is a crazy scramble for both residents and visitors trying to familiarize themselves with how the new systems work and develop strategies to secure a reservation.

As of now, visitors who want to make a reservation will have to visit different websites to make them, as different locations are managed under different jurisdictions, be it state, city and county, or federal. There may also be different fees associated with each location that would be payable.

HTA hopes to have a one-stop-shop website next year so visitors can easily find and book advance reservations for these controlled spots in a single online location.

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