Fee Increase for Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau

The National Park Service (NPS) announced that Pu‘uhōnua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park will also modify its entrance fees to provide additional funding for infrastructure and maintenance needs to enhance the visitor experience. Effective on Friday, June 1, 2018, the park fees will increase to $15 per vehicle, $7 per person walking in and $10 per motorcycle.  Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau will have a new park specific annual pass.  This pass will cost $30 and will allow unlimited entry into the park for the entire calendar year from the time of purchase. A second fee increase on January 1, 2020 will be implemented.  Entrance fees to the park will be $20 per vehicle, $15 per motorcycle and $10 per person (the receipt allows entry for seven days) and the annual park pass will be $35.  

NPS photo.

The annual Tri Park Pass, an annual pass that allows visitors unlimited entry to the three fee-charging national parks in Hawai‘i: Hawai‘i Volcanoes and Haleakalā National Parks, and Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, will increase in phases. Starting June 1, 2018, the Tri Park Pass will go from $30 to $50, and to $55 in January 2020. All of the money received from entrance fees remains in the NPS with up to 100 percent of the revenue staying in Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. Revenue from entrance fees stay in the park and are devoted to spending that supports the visitor.

National parks have experienced record-breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion visitors in the last five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging infrastructure and increased visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines, bathrooms, and other visitor services and lead to an $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog nationwide. 

The additional revenue from entrance fees at Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park will include projects like upgrading audio visual equipment for amphitheater, developing new exhibits and interpretive programs, supports annual two day cultural festival and more.  

Entrance fees collected by the National Park Service totaled $199 million in Fiscal Year 2016. The NPS estimates that once fully implemented, the new fee structure will increase annual entrance fee revenue by about $60 million. 

The current fee rate is $5 per vehicle $3 per motorcycle, $3 per person walking in and $30 for the Tri-Park Pass. The park is one of the 117 National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee; the other 300 national parks will remain free to enter. The price of the annual America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Lands Annual Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80. 

The complete fee schedule will change according to the following: