Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has announced the release of $6.3 million to boost tourism-recovery efforts, citing economic challenges from both the Maui wildfires of August 2023 and anticipated impact from the Los Angeles County wildfires.
The funds, allocated to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), will support a campaign that builds on the state's economic comeback efforts in Maui.
"We are all aware of the sustained effects of the Maui wildfires on our state's tourism industry and the continued slump in West Maui hotel occupancies," said James Kunane Tokioka, director of the DBEDT, in a statement. "As we also foresee that visitor arrivals will be impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires, the tourism-recovery campaign is intended to drive the visitor traffic needed to sustain local businesses and support jobs."
According to data from the DBEDT, Los Angeles is Hawaii's largest source market, accounting for 9.1% of all visitor arrivals in 2024 and 30.2% of all visitors from California.
The funding comes from within the DBEDT's existing budget, released at Tokioka's request.