The books are popular with tourists, but have been criticized by landowners, public safety authorities and business owners.Ĭritics say the books encourage tourists to go on private property, despoil formerly hidden places with crowds, and too bluntly review restaurants, visitor-oriented businesses and tourist attractions. They wrote “The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook,” followed by “Hawaii the Big Island Revealed” and then “Maui Revealed.” “We believe that with the recommended changes, visitors using your book will be safer and have a better quality experience, and at the same time, the natural and cultural resources of the area will receive less direct human impact,” Young said in a letter to Doughty on Monday.ĭoughty and co-author Harriett Friedman moved to Kauai about 10 years ago and formed Wizard Publications.
Meanwhile, Peter Young, chairman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, has asked guidebook co-author Andrew Doughty to revise future editions of “Maui Revealed” when describing the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve and surrounding sensitive places. “It would be redundant to mention this hazard for every single stream on Maui,” Williamson said.īeth Pickel also complained that there were “no trespassing” signs at the pool, saying she and her husband wouldn’t have gone had they known it was on private property.īut Williamson said Maui County had informed the publisher before the guide was published that the land at the Blue Pool is public, and no landowner has ever said anything to the contrary. She noted that the book said: “Flash floods can occur in any fresh water stream anywhere in the world, even paradise.
Wizard guidebooks take over a year to compile and the writers are residents who personally and anonymously review every facet of the island. Lisa Williamson, director of marketing at the guide’s publisher, Kauai-based Wizard Publications, said the book addressed flash floods and other hazards. Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook Doughty, Andrew, Boyd, Leona on.