HTM TAXING TOURISTS number of days a unit is rented or the number of occupants (visitors or residents); the same fixed fee is levied on rentals of luxury and budget accommodations.5 The proposed Climate Fee would be in addition to the State’s 10.25% transient accommodation tax (TAT) and the separate TAT of up to 3% imposed by the four counties. [...] The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will administer the Fund so as to “minimize the impacts of, and respond to, climate crises.”6 In this essay, we consider what the implications of the $25 Climate Fee might be for the tourism industry, tourists, and residents. [...] The size of the fee depends on the category of lodging and the fee is applicable only during the busy March-to-October tourist season. [...] A group of tourists staying together in a hotel room or short- term vacation rental would see the $25 climate fee as a $25 increase in the entry fee to the state, i.e., as a $25 increase in the visitor party’s airfare to Hawai‘i. [...] The average size of the party checking into the transient accommodation is important, as the $25 fee is only paid once by the traveling party sharing the hotel room or vacation rental and is spread across the airfare(s) of the entire party.23 If the size of the visitor party is 2.21 people, then we estimate domestic visitor arrivals to decline by 23,760 people, or a little more than three-tenths o.
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- United States of America
