Molokai economy feels effects of ranch closing
The Kaluakoi Resort, now closed, was intended to boost tourism on Molokai after pineapple planting ended
The Maui News file photo
HONOLULU (AP) — Molokai businesses are feeling the effects the Molokai Ranch shutdown.
Riders on the ferry between Lahaina and Kaunakakai plunged 25 percent in April. Gift shop proprietor Maria Watanabe has had to lay off two of her five employees and says there’s been slower tourist traffic at her Kaluakoi and Kaunakakai stores.
One major factor in the slowdown is the ranch’s closure of the island’s only 18-hole golf course.
Darrel Borling, the resident manager of Ke Nani Kai condominium resort in Kaluakoi, says some visitors cut short their visit because there wasn’t a golf course.
‘‘They just picked up and left,’’ Borling said.
Borling said the true impact of the ranch closure will become known next winter, the tourism peak season. But he suspects it will be significant.
‘‘Now that the golf course is not here, they’re not going to want to come here,’’ he said.
Molokai Ranch, the island’s bigge
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