Letter: High costs will raise tourist expectations

A lot has been written about the return of tourists to the islands — what that means for the economy, for safety, for vacation rentals, for servicing 30,000 arrivals per day.

There has been a lot of discussion about how to attract better tourists who respect our aina and Hawaiian culture, and try to leave the islands in better shape than they found them.

To some degree this may be happening without a dedicated plan, but through selective tourism based on economics. With higher prices, staffing shortages and more enforcement against illegal vacation rentals, it would seem that the vacationers who used to come on the cheap may have limited choices.

An issue that will need to be addressed is how to improve the services and experience for those who can afford a Hawaiian vacation. With higher prices comes higher expectations. If these are not met, these tourists could go somewhere else.

Greg Schmidt

Hawaii Kai

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