Maui Wildfires – Update 4

This is our fourth blog post on the wildfires.  We have had boots on the ground in the form of Partners Lisa Morris and Dave Elmore, with the latest update below prepared by the latter who visited the western side of the island to see if there was much visible in the way of change.  The situation seems to have stabilized in recent days.

• Roads leading to Lahaina continue to be closed with National Guard at each entry-point.
• No visible activity for clean-up efforts – no sightings of front-end loader, dump trucks etc, albeit access is restricted to the outskirts of town.  Assume that if clean up efforts were underway in any significant form, activity would be visible which suggests search / investigation is on-going.
• Several FEMA/ATF/Red Cross sightings but no sign of insurance companies (sometimes we will see the “Nationwide” adjuster car roaming around CAT areas).
• Governor of Hawaii indicated last week that West Maui will be “closed” until October 17.  This appears to be not so much a closure as a recommendation that tourists stay away from that area which may raise issues around coverage.
• There are several $1,000+-a-night resorts that have been empty for over three weeks now and likely will continue to be empty for another six to eight weeks.  All businesses/hotels/resorts continue to be deserted north of Lahaina even though visibly unaffected.  Below is a map indicating same:

• Per the above map, anything south and east of the “pinch” on the island remains open and unaffected.  As indicated in earlier updates this week, the general tourist population is reduced in number, so potential claim activity may exist for restaurants/hotels that weren’t directly damaged but are experiencing the hit economically.  Verbal indication that Maui arrivals have reduced from 8,000 per day to 2,000 in August).
• Ongoing enquiries as to whether this results from a governmental order or recommendation are unclear.  Further to this point, a CBS article:  Maui struggles with “potentially catastrophic” tourism shortfall and growing economic toll after wildfires – CBS News
• Data from the Hawaiian Dept. of Business, Economic Development and Tourism indicating tourism for YTD July 2023 compared to prior years (Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism | Visitor Recovery Continued Through July 2023 (hawaii.gov))
  
  There were 293,681 visitors to Maui in July 2023, compared to 305,862 visitors (-4.0%) in July 2022 and 307,834 visitors (-4.6%) in July 2019. Visitor spending was $623.4 million in July 2023, compared to $607.6 million in July 2022 (+2.6%) and $506.0 million (+23.2%) in July 2019. The average daily census on Maui was 72,221 visitors in July 2023, compared to 77,965 visitors (-7.4%) in July 2022 and 76,577 visitors (-5.7%) in July 2019.
  
  In the first seven months of 2023, there were 1,779,438 visitors to Maui, compared to 1,713,343 visitors (+3.9%) in the first seven months of 2022 and 1,830,367 visitors (-2.8%) in the first seven months of 2019. For the first seven months of 2023, total visitor spending was $4.10 billion, compared to $3.44 billion (+19.1%) in the first seven months of 2022 and $3.11 billion (+31.6%) in the first seven months of 2019.

• Link to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (contains multiple links to other sources of information):  Hawaii Emergency Management Agency | August 2023 Wildfires
• Ongoing meetings with market representatives on the ground to learn more.