By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Empty stalls in the back parking lot at Hanauma Bay
Nature Preserve reflect an 11 percent drop in visitors since
new parking and admission fees took effect.
With visitor drop,
Hanauma Bay fee
could rise
The Hanauma park director
By Greg Ambrose
puzzles over possible causes
Star-BulletinThe coral, green sea turtles and tropical fish are ready to be admired; the dive, rental and food concessionaires have their gear in place; the beach has been raked; and the ocean is wearing its loveliest shades of blue. All that's missing from Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve are the guests. Lots of them.
Since March 13, when the park started charging $1 a day for parking and a $3 entrance fee for nonresidents 13 and older, 11 percent fewer people have visited the state's most popular ocean attraction than during the same period last year.
The missing visitors perplex Alan Hong, Hanauma Bay park director.
"It's just a mystery," Hong said.
The first suspect was the new entrance fee. But when a fee for nonresidents was imposed previously, most said it wasn't a problem. And when that fee was scrapped for a suggested $5 donation, people gave $1 for every man, woman and child who entered the park.
The new entrance fee is going to help maintain and preserve the park.
This year, for the first time, Hong doesn't have to beg the city Parks Department for money to operate and improve Hanauma Bay. His operating budget comes from money taken at the gate.
But his budget was set last year, based on projections from then-bountiful numbers of visitors. With fewer visitors and less money, Hong has two options to keep the park running. He can ask for an increase in the admission fee, or he can make up the difference from the Parks and Recreation budget or the city general fund.
On the bright side, fewer visitors means fewer feet trampling coral and less stress on the bay, Hong said.
"We can't let ourselves be swayed by the money we collect here," he said. "Any time we can reduce the number of people coming to the bay, there is a benefit to the health of the bay.
"At the same time, we don't want to deny usage here, because this is a valuable educational resource for Hawaii."
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
But plenty of snorkelers are still venturing down
to the bay for an up-close look at the fish.
A statistician at the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau ruled out a drop in tourism as a suspect in Hanauma's decline, pointing out that visitor numbers for Oahu were up slightly this year over last year between March 13 and July 31.The official, however, pointed out that westbound visitors were down 4.6 percent, which could account for part of the drop at Hanauma Bay.
And while eastbound arrivals were up 5 percent, their length of stay was down 5.8 percent, which could mean that they had less time to visit Hanauma; and there were 6.9 percent fewer visitors on the island on any given day.
There also was a 1.1 percent drop in first-time visitors, the group who would be most inclined to make Hanauma a must-see stop.
And there's that pesky parking fee, which residents verbally opposed when it was proposed.
But some questions still haunt Hong. "When the kids were out of school during the summer, why did 11,900 fewer residents come to Hanauma this summer than last summer?
"And why did resident numbers go up right after the parking fee was instituted? Maybe there's no answer. Maybe it just happened because it happened," Hong said.
He is anticipating the next two waves of visitor inundations to Hanauma Bay, the usually busy Christmas season and spring break.
"Maybe it will all even out eventually."
Hanauma Bay entry fee
accepted by visitors ‘if it
keeps the quality up’It's those who forget their ID
By Mary Adamski
who complain, park staff say
Star-BulletinMore than 100 people were in line at the Hanauma Bay cashier booth at 8 a.m. Friday, waiting their turn to pay $3 to enter the nature park and postcard beach. Nary a complainer could be found in the queue.
Bob and Lynn Lundie of Salt Lake City said they have no quarrel with the entrance fee. "We have seen all the national parks charging a fee for service, so it's what we expect," said Lynn Lundie.
"A line like that would be a majoril,23p,8p distractor, when we've only got three days here," said Bob Lundie as they stood at a topside lookout before deciding to trek down to the beach. "The fee is worth it if it keeps the quality up."
Cashier Laverne Abaya said: "The people who give us the worst time are the ones who could get in free but they forgot their ID." The fee is waived for local residents, students attending local colleges and military personnel stationed here if they show a photo ID. "We see lots of people who come back and pay again another day. It doesn't bother them."
Security guard John McCoy affirmed that "mostly residents grumble" because they have to pay without an ID card. Park personnel have to remind visitors about the no-smoking rule. "Most are happy about that. Everybody can see the result is a good thing."
New Zealand visitor Alan Dean said, "I think it (the fee) is good if they're using it to look after the beach." He said that's how the fee is explained in brochures distributed in Waikiki.
Louis Ripple of Makiki said, "We're wondering when, with all the money, they're going to build more restrooms." Ripple and a friend were leaving at 9 a.m., saying, "We come early and leave early."
Rebecca Bafford of Makiki, with daughter and grandson in tow, said: "If you're local, you come when they open, and by the time the buses are arriving, you get off the beach. I think the best thing they did was send the tour buses over there" -- buses head for the overlook and don't affect the public parking lot.
Professional diver Mike Harvor, who frequents the bay, said he hasn't seen a dwindling of visitors. "The parking lot is maxed out by 9 a.m. even now that school has started."
He said despite the crowds "it has finally reached a sanity level. There's a sense of peace here again." Harvor credited controls placed on park use, the fees and the remodeled entrance.
Nathan Napihaa of the park maintenance crew said the fee "doesn't stop them. Before when it was $5, it didn't stop them.
"I don't hear complaints. People talk about the old days when you could drive down to the beach and drop off your stuff."
