Source: CCTV News Client
A month has passed since the fire on Maui, Hawaii, USA, and the local pillar industry tourism has been hit hard, and Maui's car rental shops, airports, shops, hotels and other related tourist facilities have been left out in the cold. Merchants fear the fires will extend far beyond Maui and could even trigger an "economic catastrophe" in Hawaii.
Recently, outside Kahului Airport, Maui's largest airport, rental car company taxis sat quietly and unattended. A car rental company clerk said Maui car rental reservations were canceled, some tourists switched to other Hawaiian islands, and some canceled their trip to Hawaii outright.
Maui Air Helicopters also said that despite offering significant discounts, helicopters are currently only allowed to operate 1 or 2 times a day, compared to 25 to 30 before the fire.
Nearly eighty percent of Maui's revenue comes from tourism, and the number of tourists arriving in Maui has fallen by about 70 percent since the August 8 fires on Maui, Hawaii, from before the fire, which has hit ordinary Maui and small businesses in particular.
Jonathan Silva, a former counselor at an elementary school in Lahaina, Maui, also worked part-time at three local hotels, but with the elementary school destroyed in the fire and almost no hotel occupied, he is now living on what little savings and relief he had before.
Maui resident Jonathan Silva: Can anyone help me, we're still in the middle of the quagmire and we need help.
Maureen Bacon, a small business owner involved in tourism, said many local businesses are struggling and that she fears the fires will bring "an economic disaster" to Hawaii as a whole.
Maui Small Business Owner Maureen Bacon: We now face a crisis on top of a crisis, not only Maui is devastated, but the rest of Hawaii is also hit economically.