Tourism Takes Off

Maui's economy depended on sugar for decades, until high labor costs began to diminish profits in the years following World War II. Tourism was the new industry rising to take its place.

On Maui, tourism had a weak start due to the arduous nature of travel. Inter-island steamship service started in 1852 with the Constitution crossing the channel between O‘ahu and Lahaina. At Lahaina, passengers were rowed ashore then continued the journey by horse or on foot. Railroads on plantations hauled sugarcane but weren't used at this time for passenger service.

In 1923, the first modern inter-island passenger ship - Haleakala - was christened. It carried 300 passengers and offered first-class staterooms with private baths and Irish linen for passage from Honolulu. Travel by sea became comfortable but it remained expensive. In 1927, Maui saw only 428 visitors.

The airplane brought dramatic change to tourism on Maui. Inter-island service began in 1929 - the flight from Honolulu to Ma‘alaea airfield took 75 minutes - and by the 1950s, Maui was receiving 10,000 tourists each year. With the sugar industry now declining rapidly, sugar plantations looking for alternatives for their lands turned to tourism.

American Factors - or Amfac - a Hawaiian company that traced its roots to the 1800s, had accepted sugar company stock during tough times for sugar growers. By 1940, Amfac held 15,000 acres of sugar land in West Maui; by 1961 Amfac owned 100% of Pioneer Mill. Amfac had long considered converting its agricultural lands to urban resort use. Pioneer Mill owned extensive sugar interests in the islands including Kaanapali's white sand beaches, views of Lana‘i and Moloka‘i, perennially sunny lands sloping toward the mountains, and easy access to historically picturesque Lahaina, where the mill itself was located.

As early as 1953, Amfac studied the possibility of building a "planned tourist destination resort" that would contain everything in one location: accommodations, beaches, restaurants, shops, golf courses. In 1959, Amfac broke ground for its first hotel at Ka‘anapali. In 1962 the first of two golf courses opened and since that time has consistently sparked development of a true tourist industry on Maui.

Today, the Ka‘anapali area is acknowledged as one of the first master-planned resort communities in the world and competes with Waikiki as a top tourist desitnation in the state of Hawai‘i.

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