Letters to the Editor

Is no tourism better than over-tourism?

I hear this a lot, that there's "too many tourists on Maui."

Well, not anymore are there "too many tourists on Maui," are there?

Now we may find out what a 50 to 75 percent unemployment rate looks like on Maui.

Maui's economy has been fueled, driven and sustained by the tourist industry since the early 1950s.

I remember the native, college-radical Trask Sisters telling tourists to stay out of Hawaii in the 1980s.

Strangely, just seven months ago, the Maui County Council held hearings about "the effects of over-tourism on Maui."

Well, if I were Kelly King, I'd be now asking for a hearing on "the effect of no tourism on Maui's economy."

Mark Smith

Wailuku