MVCB and HTA recently released a grant opportunity known as the 2023 East Maui Tourism Management Pilot Program RFP making fiscal support available to community organizations in order to address tourism impacts occurring at five sites along the Hana Highway; these five sites are: Bamboo forest Kailua, Waikamoi bridge at MM10, Kaihalulu aka Red Sand Beach, Waioka referred to as Venus pools and South Wailua bridge known as Honolewa. This RFP is an outcome of Hana Highway Regulation advocacy.

There is a page titled Industry Engagement at HanaHighwayRegulation.com that outlines our communication exchange with visitor industry leaders since 2017. This highlights our repeated requests for the visitor industry to collaborate with community. This RFP is a result of our advocacy over the years.

Hana Highway Regulation in partnership with Lokahi Pacific as our committed fiscal administrator, applied for a portion of this MVCB / HTA grant funding opportunity to work with the kuleana holders of Kailua and Waikamoi to address impacts occurring on the North East end. Our plan is entitled The Hana Highway Information Project, a two fold proposal which aims to; 1. Create a standardized information platform to establish credible pre-arrival visitor education that nurtures visitor preparedness, and 2. Harnesses generational residents of Kailua and Waikamoi to be stationed in the field to render visitor consultation in order to improve road safety. 

In acknowledgment of the kuleana rendered by our organization over the last seven years, please follow this link to sign the petition of support for Hana Highway Regulation’s proposal that was submitted as a grant application with Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau on May 5th. Grant awards are announced on June 9th!

Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau in collaboration with Hawaii Tourism Authority recently released the 2023 East Maui Tourism Management Pilot Program RFP, open to organizations based in East Maui. Follow this link to learn more.

HCR 29 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

ENCOURAGING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO WORK WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO DEVELOP A HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT PLAN THAT WILL ENSURE HANA HIGHWAY IS PROPERLY MAINTAINED AND IS SAFE FOR RESIDENTS AND VISITORS. < click to download

OFFERED BY LINDA A. CLARK

Hana Highway Regulation Administrator invited to participate as panelist on PBS Kakou; Hawaii’s Town Hall

LINK TO THE VIDEO: KAKOU TOURSIM PANEL 2021

Residents in East Maui beg for relief from visitor boom

HAWAII NEWS NOW PIECE, JUNE 17th 2021

East Maui Residents overwhelmed by influx of visitors, traffic

KHON2 NEWS PIECE, JUNE 13th 2021

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

PUBLIC NOTICE : The transition of Hana Highway Regulation as an initiative of the Hana Community Association to its own unincorporated non-profit organization is made official as of 06-07-19.

Lack of competent visitor management by Hawaii’s visitor industry leads to another incident of visitor injury at the bamboo forest in Kailua mile marker 6.5 along the Road to Hana. The most recent reported injury of a child with 1” laceration to his head. The lack of visitor awareness and education continues to incur more injuries of visitors. Aside from multiple visitor injuries and fatalities occurring here annually, this site is most noted for its hazardous driving conditions due to the parking offenses with visitors parking sometimes directly on the highway at Mile Marker 6.5

Visitors continue to incur injuries at Red Sand Beach as a lack of adequate management by property owners ensues. Red Sand beach is not the rightful name of the area which is actually Kaihalulu, the actual name of the area known as Ka’uiki hill. This beach has been unrightfully popularized on the web with video tutorials coursing visitors on how to get to the rural beach. The parcel in which visitors trespass upon to reach the state owned trail is owned by Hana Ranch Properties. The private corporation has refrained from making comment on their position regarding the trespassing of visitors. This beach does not have a parking lot to accommodate the droves of visitors who are trekking to this dangerous location. Visitors are taking up community parking stalls that are meant for the senior center, youth center and other businesses and organization offices in the vicinity. When a visitor takes one of those stalls so they can go and see Red Sand Beach they are actually taking up a community parking stall which limits and conflicts the flow of community functions. Red Sand beach is located beyond private property and should not be intruded upon unless there is sincere purpose by the individual. Native Tenants of the area go here to fish, to pray and to rejuvenate, they do not go to Red Sand Beach for purposeless antics like nude sunbathing and bbqs. Visitors are often seen attempting to carry baggage on the narrow trail that runs around the circumference of a red cinder cone with exposed rugged cliffside. There have been children and adults injured and killed here. This site sees an average of 2 fatalities per year and multiple injuries. First responders often risk their lives to retrieve visitors who meander beyond their physical abilities and attempt the trail. There has been an increase in waste along the trail and in the parking lot area. Please do not intrude and trespass to see Red Sand Beach. A great alternative is Koki beach which gives insight to the wonder of Red Sand without a traitorous hike involved. Be safe, acknowledge and abide by Hawaii State Law along your visit. Mahalo, The Hana Highway Regulation Commitee

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

The Chair of our Organization will serve on a panel at the County Council on June 18th at 1:30pm.

The panel will provide a presentation regarding visitor impacts on environmental, cultural and infrastructural resources throughout Maui County and discuss related matters. Open to public.

LA TIMES TRAVEL article

Click the link below to read the full article..

https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-travel-hawaii-cultural-awareness-20190421-story.html

Data Collection along the Road to Hana

Volunteer Napua Hueu collects traffic and visitor data at Keanae Peninsula. 

Severe Weather along the Road to Hana [7/21/18]

Rain storm conditions along the Road to Hana on 7/21/18. Various commercial carriers were recorded conducting hiking activities despite the hazardous stream and flash flooding conditions.  Carriers exhibited in this video hiking at Bamboo Forest Kailua MM6.5 and Puohokamoa Stream are illegally parking and trespassing on private property in addition to conducting commercial activity within sacred sights. Documentation of offenses to community policy which can be found at HanaHighwayRegulation.com

MAUI VISITORS BUREAU SAFETY SEMINARS

MAUI VISITORS BUREAU HOSTS SAFETY SEMINARS, please see flyers below.

The Hana Highway Regulation will make a presentation of the Road to Hana Code of Conduct at both safety seminars. 11/29/17 Grand Wailea 8a-12p | 12/06/17 Sheraton Kaanapali 8a-12p

MVCB hosts VISITOR SAFETY CONFERENCES for 2017

Maui Visitors Bureau coordinates a series of visitor safety conferences to be held at the Grand Wailea Resort on November 29th (8am-12pm) and on the West side at Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa on December 6th (8am-12pm). Please alert any hospitality industry staff to sit in on these free events to learn more about visitor safety. The Hana Highway Regulation committee will be making a presentation on the Road to Hana Code of Conduct among a panel of other county and state officials providing their insight on respective areas of expertise. To learn more please contact the Maui Visitors Bureau.

Janet Kuwahara
Maui Visitors Bureau

janet@mauivb.com
Telephone:  808-244-3530

Code of Conduct, soundbite by Hawaii Public Radio

Click here to visit Hawaii Public Radio site and listen to highlighted points from the recently published Road to Hana Code of Conduct. Promoting visitor and resident awareness are scheduled steps for the initiative. 

HCA introduces regulatory initiative.

The Hana Community Association board votes to adopt the Hana Highway Regulation as an initiative and publishes The Road to Hana Code of Conduct as first objective.

Peru introduces new rules for visiting Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is unarguably one of the most famous and popular sites in South America and an iconic site within the world of travel. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

But Machu Picchu’s popularity could also be a curse. The number of visitors to Machu Picchu each year has grown from the low 100,000s in the 1980s, to a peak of nearly 1.4 million tourists in 2014 – an approximate increase of 700%! This increased traffic is slowly “wearing away” the famed site.

CLICK HERE to read the full story about Machu-picchu