Hawaii Tourism: Illegal Vacation Rentals Negatively Impact Quality of Life
The Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO, John De Fries, issued a statement regarding Bill 41 in support of the City and County of Honolulu’s enforcement against illegal vacation rentals. He said:
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) is monitoring Bill 41 addressing illegal vacation rentals, which was introduced by Honolulu City Council Chair Tommy Waters last week.
Our position on this issue is clear and community focused. Illegal vacation rentals negatively impact the quality of life for residents by increasing congestion and noise in neighborhoods, placing additional burdens on infrastructure and facilities, and taking potential rental properties off the market.
On September 1, HTA provided testimony in SUPPORT of the proposed amendments to Chapter 21 by the Department of Planning and Permitting, which would further enhance the City and County of Honolulu’s ability to provide enforcement against unpermitted short-term vacation rentals. HTA’s board of directors unanimously passed a motion in support of HTA’s testimony during its September 2 board meeting. See HTA’s testimony in support.
In keeping with HTA’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, Destination Management Action Plans (DMAP), and commitment to Mālama Ku‘u Home (caring for my beloved home), we are supporting efforts at both the state and county levels to address the proliferation of illegal vacation rentals. Bill 41 directly supports Action A of the O‘ahu DMAP, which aims to: “Decrease the total number of visitors to O‘ahu to a manageable level by controlling the number of visitor accommodations and exploring changes to land use, zoning and airport policies.”
It’s important to note there have been no major increases to the total accommodations units provided statewide by hotels, condo hotels and timeshares in recent years. In 2009, Hawai‘i had 67,335 units statewide. A decade later, in 2019, that total had shrunk to 65,707 units, a 2.4% decrease.
However, during the same 10-year period, visitor arrivals increased from 6.4 million to 10.2 million, a jump of 59.5%. We believe many of these additional visitors stayed in illegal vacation rentals, located throughout Hawai‘i’s residential neighborhoods.
We strongly encourage the visitor industry and community to follow Bill 41 and prepare to submit testimony in the weeks ahead. We will keep you posted on this matter. Read more about Bill 41 here.
