Mixed messaging, other challenges stymie Maui’s tourism industry

Mixed messaging, other challenges stymie Maui’s tourism industry

Some visitors who arrived on Maui last week had postponed their original travel plans to show respect after the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire, while others like Linda and Demerick Harris of Jackson, Miss., were unaware that West Maui had been the site of the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history in over a century. All were welcomed by a visitor industry that continues to struggle two years after the fire tore through Lahaina, killing at least 102 people a…