Hawaii’s Haleakala national park pondering ways to cut down on tourism activities

Haleakala National Park officials in Maui are seeking public input on a plan that would significantly scale back commercial tour activities offered in the park, including prohibiting tours several days each year and banning motor coaches. This includes trimming the number of vehicle tour operators in the park by 80 percent.

The changes are needed to alleviate negative impacts that commercial activities are having on Haleakala’s natural and cultural resources, and to restore a “sense of place.”

The 33,000-acre national park is its most popular, and has close to 957,000 visitors last year, down from more than 1 million visitors the year before.