Is It Okay to Visit Maui?

In August 2023, wildfires swept through Lahaina in West Maui, destroying most of the historic former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii and taking the lives of over 100 people. 

In the wake of the tragedy, the chaos and panic of trying to rescue and locate survivors with minimal infrastructure and resources necessitated evacuating all visitors from the island and stopping the flow of incoming visitors. 

As search and rescue gave way to recovery and the logistics of getting all of the displaced people accounted for and temporarily settled, the message went out loud and clear - - - Maui is closed to visitors. 

It’s been almost two years since the fires, and I still get questions from people every day asking if it’s okay to travel to Maui yet or if they’re still requesting people stay away. 

Honestly, there are a lot of mixed messages, and people are picking up on that. When the tourism bureau, local government, and local businesses are saying something different than…TikTok…who do you believe? 

Whatever individual people’s opinions are about the state of tourism in Maui and Hawaii in general (this ranges from thinking there should be more balance and regulation in the industry to wanting absolutely no tourism)…Maui is open for tourism. All of Maui (with the exception of the burn zone in Lahaina obviously) is open for tourism. 

Visitors were welcomed back to about 90% of the island (everywhere except West Maui) within a month or two of the fires. But the parts of West Maui “unaffected” by the fires remained closed for a while longer as so much of the recovery efforts were headquartered in the area.

By late March 2024, local Lahaina businesses that survived the fires as well as all of the resort areas north of Lahaina (Ka’anapali, Napili, Kahana, Kapalua) officially reopened to visitors. 

So while you may hear individuals voice opinions about the state of tourism in Hawaii and how they’d personally like it to be, Maui is officially welcoming visitors back. And local agencies, businesses, and most locals are getting increasingly more vocal about it…I’ve heard tourism in Maui is still down about 20% compared to this time in 2019. 

Okay, so it’s okay to visit Maui. But what does a trip look like? Are you going to spend a lot of money for…less of an experience? 

In a word…no. I feel 100% comfortable recommending people return to Maui in terms of being able to have a once in a lifetime trip. 

95% of what I would have recommended as an itinerary in July 2023 is still doable. 

While the wildfires were completely devastating (in every way), just speaking geographically…the lost areas are actually a very small percentage of the island. 

And while rebuilding hasn’t resumed yet in the commercial part of Lahaina (homes are now starting to be rebuilt), businesses in parts of Lahaina that were spared by the fires have been reopening and old favorites have been opening in new spots for well over a year now.