Supporting East Maui

As a tour operation that covers the entire island, it is our responsibility to be receptive to the comments and suggestions to improve the experience for all who we encounter.

Our focus on culture, community and environmental impact earned Valley Isle Excursions the 2016/2017 Hawaii Ecotourism Association Operator Of The Year Award. This recognition only showed us that we need to do more.

We have many goals for the future and they all revolve around improving the livelihood of those who work with us; the communities, our guides and baseyard staff as well as our partners across the island – especially in Hana. We want to do better and it’s not about selling more tours, it’s about better educating our guests. Then they can take the experience of “Aloha” back home with them to live and share it – all throughout the world! Being a global destination affords us opportunities to spread the concept of Aloha worldwide. We try to be good ambassadors daily.

Feedback is very important to us and we look forward to continuously improving who we are, where we teach and how we impact the communities and environment across the island. We have questions like:

There are over 4 billion more people on earth since tourism in Hawaii took off in 1960s. The global demand to see the beauty and serenity of Hana has put incredible pressure on the community, causing tensions to reach what could be a breaking point. We look to residents across Hawaii to support efforts to improve and maintain our primary industry, tourism. Improving doesn’t mean more people. To us it’s about using the opportunities we have to educate and inspire, by spreading Aloha in better ways.

Uneducated visitors will continue to arrive in greater numbers, utilizing the sights and stops along the road to Hana as outlets for their vacation dreams. Local businesses like restaurants, stores and fruit and flower stands benefit by visitors bringing money into the community but it becomes a challenge to maintain family and community values while trying to minimize the impact of visitors.

Tourism has contributed to increasing the quality of life for Hana residents by financing road maintenance, reducing travel time and increasing safety on the Hana Highway. Thirty years ago travel time to Kahului took 2 to 3 times longer (due to road conditions) than it does today – even with visitor traffic.

In the Hawaii legislature there are presently several bills that need greater support by our communities. Many beneficial laws and their funding need to be passed. Laws that mitigate the impact of visitors to our county and state parks are of special importance as they affect the entire community. Letting your thoughts be known to your official representative helps considerably.

Tourism has been part of Hawaii’s economy since the 1870’s. Hawaii was catapulted to fame after Mark Twain’s four month visit in 1866 as a travel writer for the Sacramento Union paper. The allure of a tropical paradise coupled with this new concept of “Aloha” began the obsession with Hawaii – a newly discovered traveler’s paradise. Hawaii’s tourism industry has evolved over the last 140 years to today’s Hawaii, which has been one of the top tourist destinations globally for decades.

During the World War II years hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and sailors experienced the islands and the kind and generous Hawaiian people who were welcoming and helpful. As the sugar industry gave way to the tourism industry Hawaiians saw the their lives changing – in large part for the better. By the 1970’s, native Hawaiians began to regain a desire to know more about the ancient ways of their ancestors. A “Hawaiian Renaissance” resulted in the building of the voyaging canoe Hokulea.

As the rest of the world has grown and expanded, so has Maui. Today the island draws 60,000 visitors per day on average, along with about 100,000 residents. The nearly 100% increase in local population may seem like a lot to a longtime local compared to the paltry 57,000 residents who called Maui home before it’s astronomic rise in popularity after 1942.

Generations of Hawaiians have benefited from the tourism industry. As the world has become a more connected society, in a lot of ways we’ve become more disconnected with the destinations we visit. Guide books, Google maps and Tripadvisor tell us where things are, but what is often missing is the human component of wisdom and knowledge gained from the Hawaiian people. After all it was the culture that evolved with the land and sea for close to 1000 years.

As tour operators we must protect that which draws people to Maui – which is it’s beauty and it’s culture. These two things go hand in hand, even if many visitors don’t realize it. It is our job to inform visitors of why Maui is so special – and why it’s worth preserving.

We are not going to be able to stop doing tours completely. Too many people across Maui & the world depend on us to provide affordable experiences that also support the lives of our employees, partners and local residents. We want to reduce impact, increase value and improve the experience for everyone. Here are some ideas and actions we are going to take.