8 places to visit in Maui if you want to help the island's economy right now — and where tourists should avoid

Big Beach, officially known as Makena Beach State Park.PictureLake/Getty Images

• Wildfires on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii destroyed homes and killed 115 people.
• West Maui was most affected by the fires and is closed to tourists.

Catastrophic wildfires on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii destroyed homes and forced tens of thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate last month. As of August 29, The New York Times reported 115 confirmed fatalities.

Still, Maui is dependent on visitors — in 2022, 2.7 million people visited the island and spent $5.82 billion, according to a report by Hawaii's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism — and in the aftermath of the wildfires, its tourism industry has suffered.

On August 19, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation strongly discouraging all nonessential travel to West Maui. However, at a press conference with President Joe Biden on August 21, Green encouraged people to visit other parts of Maui in order to "to support our local economy and speed the recovery," according to a press release from the Office of the Governor.

Here are eight areas of Maui that are open to tourists, and the places that are off-limits right now.