The vast majority of vacation rentals are 2nd and vacation homes. In fact, many are owned by out-of-state investors. It's a myth that the majority of "illegal" vacation rental owners "need that to make house payments".  The bottom-line is the purpose of residential zoning is to provide housing for residents, not hotel rooms to tourists. Allowing short-term rentals in residential zoning turns are zoning laws and general plan upside-down. What's next? Allow  farm and conservation land to be turned into vacation rentals because "tourists can go anywhere they want"? No one is saying tourist are not welcome in Hawaii, but let's protect our residential zoning for residential housing and only allow vacation rentals to proliferate in resort zoning.

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