You’re also overstating a lot of the costs (Oahu’s road system is a mess because it’s a poorly planned mess, Honolulu’s highways can’t even handle traffic in the low season during non-peak hours. Blame the people that built that POS). Tourists might strain infrastructure but they don’t use a lot of expensive yet less obvious government services like schools, elder care, and only limited use of hospitals (ER yes, but really expensive services like hospice and long-term illnesses no). Finally, yes, your government has historically been pretty incompetent and deeply corrupt, and a failure of long-term planning is the real cause behind a lot of the “tourist problems.”

Hawaii has always aggressively promoted tourism, and it’s obvious why – with it Hawaii is the eighth highest state in per capita income, without it, you’d maybe be on par with Alabama. And Hawaii gets a lot more money from the Federal Government then it pays in taxes.

Point being, on the whole, your state has more than enough money to deal with the small portion of travelers that are there on the cheap. And it’s really not up to me to sort out problems that really are primarily the result of poor planning or bad governance (yes, Hawaii could tax AirBnB, its still a pain since AirBnB is new, but its not quite teh scam you’re framing it as).

The first time I went to Hawaii I stayed at a friend’s house and shopped at Costco, because I was a poor student. Then I went back three more times, and my wife’s been back five more times, and we spent more money on each trip because we had more to spend, and we had friends there and liked the state. But god damn I get tired of Hawaiians that blame every single problem their state has on the tourists, regardless of whether its really true, and despite the fact that their representatives bend over backwards to entice people to visit. This is a big ramble because I wrote it out quickly, so it’s not my best work, but I think you get my point.

More people visit Maui than live here. This means that much of our infrastructure like roads, police, wastewater treatment, landfills, etc are hugely used by tourists.

But many tourists actively look to avoid fees that target tourists. Take for example staying here via couchsurfing or AirBnB. None of the hotel taxes get collected which means less money being pitched in by the very people who are straining our infrastructure. (if you want to see strained infrastructure look at Oahu’s traffic problem, ugh!).

But hey, that’s okay, because tourists will spend money at local shops and restaurants, right? NOPE. They go shopping at Walmart and Costco and don’t go out to eat. Sure, that’s frugal, but it’s also less money for the local economy.

I understand the desire to stay within a budget, but when you travel to an area you are using resources of that area. When you opt to save yourself money by staying in illegal hotels (sorry, that’s what AirBnB’s usually are) and shopping exclusively at places that take the profit out of the local economy you are basically making the locals foot the bill for your stay. It can get pretty annoying.

I honestly don’t care if you can’t afford to be a tourist here, I’m more concerned that the average local can’t afford to raise a family here.

Moderation, as advocated by the OP, is the key. Try to make your decisions in a way that helps the local economy and have you paying your fair share. If you can’t afford to travel here without putting at least some money in to the economy than please just go somewhere your dollar goes farther.

YES. It’s lucky that not every traveler does this, otherwise the kindness of strangers might start to wear thin.

Take half as many clothes and twice as much money as you think you’ll need.