The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1911-09-16
Neglected
Opportunities
The Crossroads of the Pacific AptIy
Tells the Story.

and that product will probably for a
long time to come continue to head
the list of the assets of these Islands.
But there is another crop which,
with a little cultivation, could easily
be made to rank as a close second to
the saccharine product. In Southern
California it is not oranges upon
which the population as a whole
mainly depends as source of in
come, but the thousands of tourists
that every winter visit that section.
The same might well be made to a
large extend the case in Hawaii if
anything like the same amount of
energy were expended in the cultiva-
tion of the crop.
The Promotion Committee is do
ing everything in its power, with the
too limited means at its disposal, to
induce tourists to visit Hawaii, and
its efforts are meeting with more
success each year. The number of
tourists who come to the Islands is
steadily increasing. Yet the fact re-
mains that business is far from being
| the general asset that it should be.
Where does the trouble lie?
The answer is obvious, though per-
haps not too generally recognized.
The Promotion Committee induces
the tourist to come to Hawaii, but
what does Hawaii do for him when
he gets here?
Hawaii has plenty, to offer the visit
or for his entertainment-but is it
offered? Hardly. The tourist is left
to his own devices, asked to furnish
his own entertainment, told, by in
ference, to look after himself because
we are too busy or too indolent
or too Negligent to bother about him
ourselves. Result
| Mr.. Tourist very often gets tho
roughly bored in about two or three
weeks that he prays for the day to
come when the steamship companies
and our hidebound coastwise ship
ping laws will graciously permit him
to shake the dust of Honolulu from
his feet. And he goes back home and
tells his friends and relatives, Yes,
Honolulu is a beautiful place but you
can see it all in two or three days and
then there is nothing to do"
Nothing for the tourist to do! And
yet we have not only the Volcano,
but Haleakala, lao Vally, the Koo-
lau ditch trail, the beautiful SCENERY
of northern Kauai, not to speak of
the many delightful rides and drives
around Honolulu of which the aver
age tourist remains in total ignorance
throughout his stay because nobody
takes the trouble to tell him what to
do or where to go.
Southern California, notwith-
standing the immense volume of its
tourist trade, has not anything like
the natural resources that Hawaii
has, from a tourist business stand
point. But Southern California
knows how to make the best use of
what she has to work with while
Hawaii, with prodigal negligence,
lets her opportunities pass and wond-
ers why she doesn't reap the profit
that she has been told ought to be
hers.
If these Islands are to make the
most of their opportunities, we must
do more than induce the tourist to
come here; we must take measures to
see that he is properly entertained
during his stay. If that is done, he
willnot only stay longer but will want
to come back, and will be certain to
urge his friends to come. If he goes
away with a crouch, he will as GER
tainly become a knocker-and one
knocker who does his work at home,