Stop blaming tourists for everything that is wrong
Stop blaming tourists for everything that is wrong
I have been vacationing in the Hawaiian Islands for several decades. Basically my wife and I spend several thousand a year here. We are very low-impact vacationers and this is why I am tired of hearing how bad tourists are here on the island of Kauai. It seems that everything that is wrong on the island is spun back to the tourists fault.
So I am sure that eventually people here will blame the tourists for the pollution in the Waipouli. I am sure that it has nothing to do with all of the local residents and landowners living there. Damn tourists sneak up there and pollute the waterway.
Then there is the traffic and of course let’s blame the traffic on the tourists. There are 80,000 registered vehicles on the island. 12,000 are rentals 6,000 to 8,000 are rented daily. That leaves 68,000 vehicles registered to residents, that comes out to a little more than one vehicle for every man , women and child residing on this island. Traffic is a little congested on the weekends, but sucks Monday through Friday. It must be caused by all the tourists going to work (NOT).
People on the island blame tourists for all of the damage being done on the island. Right, like tourists spend thousands of dollars to come here and steal cars, drive them into the forest, strip them and abandon them. Or they spend thousands to bring their home garbage and debris with them to dump illegally in the forest. And let’s not forget all of the plastic garbage that floats into the ocean every time it rains.
Last but not least, the public facilities throughout the island. Apparently these facilities are actually residencies for locals. They pile their garbage in them, they appropriate chairs and tables that actually belong to resorts. They urinate and defecate where ever they please. They give tourists the stink eye whenever they even look like they are going to use one of these facilities.
I won’t get into the crimes perpetrated against tourists or the fact that the majority of the people who live on this island are employed in service and support industries for tourism.
Jack Martin Sr.
Eagle, Idaho
