“Lahaina is used for whale watching boats, snorkel cruises, and sunset booze cruises.”
Sounds like a tourist trap.
Laihaina’s shops and smaller hotels were mostly owned by locals. Many were the descendants of the poor imports brought in to work on the sugar cane plantations in the 1700s and 1800s. There were more Asains there than any other ethnic group.
The thing I noticed about Lahaina when I was there 23 years ago was that it was kinda dingy and a dump once you got off of Front Street. A lot of the houses were tin roofed shacks.
Shacks that were now worth over a million dollars.