The Tourism Industry Is Trying To Unseat Maui Council Members Who Want To Limit Hotels 0 In a heated election year, the county’s moratorium on visitor lodgings has become a rallying point for those across its political spectrum.
Earlier this year, the Maui County Council enacted one of the most controversial measures in recent history: A moratorium on building new hotel rooms and visitor lodgings that would last for the next two years, or until the government set a cap on the number of such places — whichever came first.
Now, as some council members are looking to make a permanent cap, their actions are once again drawing both celebration and ire. During a meeting that lasted all day Thursday, more than 60 people signed up to testify on the proposal, which has garnered support from the county’s planning department, the Molokai and Lanai planning commissions and many residents who see it as a shift away from an “extractive” industry and a way to remedy Maui’s “tremendous over dependence on tourism.”
The proposal, however, has been met with just as much opposition from business officials, tourism industry representatives and vacation rental owners who warn it could be a taking of vested property rights and a blow to the island’s economy.
