Hotel, cruise ship tax hike aims to reduce wildfire, climate risk

By Dan Nakaso for Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Tourists would collectively pay millions of dollars more each year to stay in Hawaii hotels and on cruise ships to help the state address climate change and reduce the risk of future wildfires under a bill approved Tuesday by the full House.

The latest version of Senate Bill 1396 offers no specific recommendation for how much Hawaii’s transient accommodations tax would raise, an issue that likely will be resolved in a joint House- Senate conference committee in the final days of the legislative session before its scheduled adjournment May 2.

But each 1% increase in the room tax for hotel nights has been projected to generate another $80 million annually, with another $24 million coming from passenger stays aboard cruise ships.

Click here to read the full story in the April 9 Honolulu Star-Advertiser.