Maui residents oppose reopening of tourism after wildfires

Thursday, October 5, 2023

After two months following a fatal wildfire tearing through Maui, Hawaii, government representatives said that the western area of the island – the epicenter of the catastrophe – will revive for tourists on 8 October. During a meeting of Maui county council held last week, hundreds of West Maui inhabitants requested for more time to recuperate.

Tamara Paltin, a council associate representing West Maui said that they paid attention to nearly 12 hours of testament at the meeting. Paltin said that they do not consider that one single person that said that they are all set for tourism to return.

The hotel ballroom organizing the county council conference was crowded with nearly 1,000 West Maui
inhabitants. They all waited to bear witness against Governor Josh Green’s choice to reopen the area to
tourism on the two-month anniversary of the wildfires.

Paltin growing up in Hawaii said that the crowd had accustomed faces. They comprised neighbors, friends, family – individuals who Paltin recognized and who had resided in West Maui for generations. They came up to the microphone and requested for additional time to recuperate from the fires that destroyed 97 islanders and exiled thousands more, damaging the famous town of Lahaina.

Over 10,000 inhabitants have inked an online appeal to postpone the reopening of West Maui to visitors.

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