With its white sandy beaches, lush green uplands, and near-perfect
weather, the Hawaiian island of Maui is more than a picture
postcard: it is a multi-million-dollar tourist attraction that
repeatedly has been voted "best island in the world" by Conde Nast
Traveler readers. Consider, then, the bumper sticker seen on
residents' cars in recent years: "If it's tourist season, why can't
we shoot them?"
From its modest beginnings in the prewar era, tourism has become
the most important segment of Maui's economy since the 1970s. But
as Mansel Blackford shows, it is also a devil's bargain. By
switching the island's income base from sugar cane to condos,
tourism has offered a solution to economic problems but has also
placed an unanticipated strain on Maui's infrastructure and made
unexpected demands of its residents. Now as roads and sewers have
reached their limits and escalating property values have ousted
long-timers, the growth of the "visitor industry" has forced the
people of Maul to make difficult choices about the future
development of their island.
Fragile Paradise chronicles the growth -- and the growing pains
-- of the tourist economy on Maui. Blackford takes us into the
heart of this island paradise to reveal the complexity of economic
and environmental issues, especially as perceived by Maui's
residents over the past four decades. He examines issues
surrounding land-use policies, water development, electrical power
generation, and transportation -- particularly the controversy over
the expansion of the Kahului Airport. He then shows how these
issues came together in the development of two communities: the
booming resort area of South Maui and the agricultural Upcountry
Maui.Blackford also reveals the human side of tourism, through
interviews with islanders representing both sides of the growth
issue.
Blackford's study shows how people living on a far western
American frontier view their economic and physical environments and
how they have sought to shape them. By addressing a number of
crucial issues, from race and ethnicity to "quality of life"
environmentalism, it offers a microcosm of the tourism industry
that has implications for other travel destinations and for the
economic future of the Pacific Rim.
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