tourism in hawaii issues

United States

The Case for Caps: Overtourism in Hawaii

In January 2022, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) marked the first time Native Hawaiians— kanaka maoli —comprised a majority of its 12-member board of directors. As tourism represents the largest industry in Hawaii, around 21 percent of the state’s economy, this situation provided an opportunity for much greater influence and input from kanaka maoli on the policies that effectively determine the fate of their islands. In particular, the Board was exploring changes in fees, reservations, and education policy. At the heart of these changes, the Board discussed the fundamental issue of their mission : Their primary focus shifted from “marketing and brand management” to “destination management.” Through their Destination Management Action Plans (DMAPs), they aim to “rebuild, redefine and reset tourism’s direction,” with a “ focus [on] stabilization, recovery, and rebuilding. ” Unfortunately, these goals still fail to address the fundamental problem of tourism in Hawaii: The islands, their environment, and infrastructure cannot support the sheer number of tourists visiting the islands. To address this, the State of Hawaii must cap the number of visitors it allows into the islands.

Within the United States, Hawaii is one of the most popular tourist destinations. Despite its relatively modest population, Honolulu is the seventh most-visited city in the United States, with a record 2.75 million tourists in 2019. At the time, around 216,000 jobs were directly involved in or depended on the tourism industry. The surplus of tourists in 2019 allowed the State of Hawaii to raise over two billion dollars in taxes, but these benefits aren’t without their consequences.

While tourism is the largest sector of the state’s economy, it is also the root cause of many of Hawaii’s fundamental problems. Tourists, who outnumber locals seven to one, severely strain the infrastructure designed for Hawaii’s small population. Perhaps the lack of water best illustrates this phenomenon. Currently, tourism accounts for 44.7 percent of total water consumption. While local residents suffer from droughts and face restrictions on watering their lawns or washing their cars, the tourism industry enjoys seemingly unfettered access to Hawaii’s water supply. The tourism industry also consumes a significant amount of energy. Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa found that at one point, hotels and their guests consumed around 60 percent of Hawaii’s fuel and electricity. Even facing the challenges to the tourism sector during the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, hotels alone were responsible for 8.7 percent of electricity consumption on the island of Oahu. Tourists are also responsible for propagating an already dire affordable housing crisis. For decades, tourists have participated in illegal short-term vacation rentals, eager to capitalize on the islands’ popularity. Expensive rentals on Airbnb and VRBO, and rising prices of homes, condos and apartments make housing practically unaffordable for local communities. Even with surplus taxation from the tourism sector, most of the money from tourism unfortunately leaves the islands in the hands of shareholders of the Hilton, Marriott, and other multinational hospitality companies.

These issues led resident sentiment to turn on tourism in recent years. During Hawaii’s strict Covid-19 policies, some residents claimed that they “got their islands back” on account of the lack of tourists. But when the islands reopened, many called for continued controls on tourism. In July 2021, the Mayor of Maui, for example, asked airlines to pause their post-lockdown frenzy of flights. An additional 2022 survey found that 67 percent of Hawaii residents believed that their island was “being run for tourists at the expense of local people,” and 66 percent supported halting approval of new hotels, condos, and timeshares. This shift in attitude served as an inspiration for the HTA’s new destination management vision.

One of HTA’s new destination management policies is educating tourists on the concepts of traveling pono (exploring with care) and mālama (to take care of). This change, however, arguably does nothing substantial to curb tourism’s greater effects. A recent effort by Hawaiian Airlines, for example, displayed a five minute video on being a “good tourist,” full of seemingly obvious reminders such as not approaching endangered species. But recent air incidents (such as Southwest Flight 1380, where passengers didn’t know how to use oxygen masks properly) illustrate that many people likely do not pay attention to the in-flight safety briefings. Most importantly, these “crash courses” fail to consider that even educated tourists are still tourists.

Education isn’t the only nonanswer being propagated in discussions surrounding tourism in Hawaii. One popular policy pushed by activists and politicians is the instatement of a tourist “green fee,” a $50 per visitor fee that would fund environmental conservation. This policy has already been implemented in other destinations in the Pacific, but their success is questionable. In the Micronesian nation of Palau, for example, a $100 “Pristine Paradise Environmental Fee” added to the cost of flights had little observable effect on the trend of tourism in Palau. In Hawaii, a territory that receives an average of 195 percent more (or an average of 7.45 million more) tourists a year than Palau, a green fee would certainly bring in revenue –about $400 million based on 2019 numbers–but would not do much to address the sheer number of tourists the islands see every year.

Ultimately, the problem lies in the proximity that the mainland United States has to the island, facilitating the massive influx of tourists. Even amid a pandemic, visits to Hawaii skyrocketed when tourism reopened . Faced with a lack of hotel rooms and rental cars, tourists even resorted to renting out U-Hauls and camping on the beach, while local residents were ordered to decrease their water usage to provide for the resorts. No matter the barriers, economic or otherwise, tourists will flock to Hawaii. Ultimately, the solution to Hawaii’s tourism problem is for the government to step in and limit the amount of tourists allowed to travel to the islands.

The most straightforward way for the government to limit tourists would be supplementing the proposed “green fee” with a “green cap” on tourists, a policy that has already been implemented in Bhutan . The HTA and private organizations are already pursuing some similar policies on a smaller scale by enforcing a reservations policy for beaches and state parks in the islands, limiting the number of visitors to popular sites like Diamond Head. According to the CEO of HTA John De Fries, limiting visits to state parks reduces the daily tourist strain on these locations, “ protecting its natural environment and cultural sites.” A similar statewide implementation would reduce the strain on the existing infrastructure. Limiting visitors to Hawaii, however, does raise a cause for concern. As the largest single sector of Hawaii’s economy, a downsizing of tourism would have consequences for the state’s 242,000 employees in tourism, and could send a ripple effect through its connected industries.

Hawaii’s current relationship with tourism is unsustainable for the islands and their residents. But despite the well-intentioned efforts, policies, and proposals of the Tourism Authority and activist groups, these fail to address the root of the problem: tourists put immense pressure on Hawaii’s modest infrastructure–whether it be roads, water, or energy–and educating them or making them pay a fee does not change this. Ultimately, Hawaii must be seen through the words of Maui Mayor Michael Victorino: “a community first and a vacation destination second.” The State of Hawaii must put heavier emphasis on its community, even at the detriment of tourism. Until then, maybe rethink your vacation.

Environment

Hawaii’s overtourism may get worse than ever

By Lebawit Lily Girma Bloomberg News

May 6, 2023

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / [email protected]

Beachgoers gather on the shores of Waikiki in 2021.

JAMM AQUINO / [email protected]

A tour group crosses Kamehameha Highway toward Turtle Beach in Laniakea in 2021.

In early 2021, Hawaii’s tourism board kicked off a trailblazing plan to inject authentic Native Hawaiian culture into every facet of its visitor industry, using it to help protect its communities and fragile places while deepening the tourist experience. Now, just three years in, the “Malama Hawaii” or “Care for Hawaii” initiative to push sustainable tourism may be on its way out.

As a busy summer travel season impends, Hawaii’s legislators have allocated no funds for the state’s 25-year-old tourism office in the proposed state tourism budget bill for fiscal year 2023-2024, which will kick off on July 1. And late in April, lawmakers considered two bills to disband the Hawaii Tourism Authority and replace it with an agency that would focus less on marketing Hawaii to tourists and more on managing the destination’s resources.

The bill was deferred and HTA remains in place, but numerous knowledgeable people who spoke to Bloomberg predict that excluding the agency in the final budget would significantly curtail HTA’s efforts in managing tourism on the islands.

John De Fries, chief executive officer at the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said in a newsletter that without funding, the HTA’s work in destination management, visitor education and brand marketing work will be jeopardized. The HTA, he said, will be “making tough decisions in the coming days” about canceling existing contracts and “ongoing community work.”

Legislators said the tourism office can tap into $30 million in unused funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to continue managing tourism — equal to half the money that the HTA had requested for the upcoming fiscal year.

All this poses an existential threat to the cultural activities, festivals and community-led volunteer opportunities that have recently made Hawaii such a vibrant place to visit — as well as improved crowd control measures protecting the state’s most fragile places.

Tourism tensions

The friction between legislators and Hawaii’s tourism office is not new. It reached a boiling point in 2019, when Hawaii’s 1.5 million residents watched it become a case study in over- tourism amid 10.4 million annual arrivals. Among the side effects of that unregulated industry: garbage littering popular sights, beaches so crowded you’d have a hard time finding space for a towel, coral reefs suffering from bleaching, traffic snarls caused by selfie-snapping tourists, and sacred places being desecrated by graffiti and spray paint.

For many Hawaiians inside and outside the government, HTA was a victim of its own success marketing the state. And for that, HTA began giving itself a major overhaul.

A leadership of largely white executives was replaced with one almost entirely comprising Native Hawaiians; the agency’s goals were refocused on making tourism more sustainable for everyone.

The “Malama Hawaii” campaign took off. It spread responsible tourism messaging to visitors before and during their trips and created sustainable experiences to help visitors be more mindful of the fragility of Hawaii’s beautiful and sacred places. It also helped disperse foot traffic to reduce the harmful impacts of mass tourism.

The changes helped attract more affluent, higher- spending travelers, which explains why in 2023 the state is projected to bring in a record $1 billion in hotel bed taxes. Those guests, in turn, were happy to contribute to educational community-led activities such as beach cleanups in Kauai, tours of a chocolate farm on Oahu and joining cultural walks in Waikiki.

For some Hawaiian legislators that progress was too slow. The government has since reined in the tourism office’s spending powers, cut off its direct line of funding from hotel taxes and began requiring state approval to award contracts and pass annual budgets.

“The Legislature didn’t think (the change) was going fast enough,” says Frank Haas, president of Marketing Management Inc. and a consultant for the HTA’s 2020-25 strategic plan for sustainable tourism development.

Mondy Jamshidi-Kent, a professor of travel management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says some legislators have been committed for at least five years to disbanding the HTA, having made up their minds before De Fries could get to work.

“I’m disappointed to have learned that they don’t incorporate the last three years of statistically measured improvement,” she says, arguing that the current discussions are driven more by emotion than data. ”This is a disturbing threat to our democratic process.”

Jamshidi-Kent speculates that this “new way of tourism,” which centers Hawaiian culture in business operations and adds layers of true accountability, may have been perceived as threatening by certain members of the government. “It doesn’t make sense why the Legislature is trying to fix something that’s working.”

Seeds of sustainability

In a short period, HTA had made measurable progress. More than 25% of mainland visitors to Hawaii surveyed during the fourth quarter of 2022 reported seeing messaging before and during their trip about “caring for and respecting Hawaii’s culture, people, and environment.”

On the sustainability front, a growing number of state parks now require reservations; the 4,000-acre ‘Iao Valley State Monument on Maui just became the fourth state park using an advance booking system for out-of-state visitors, as of May 1. The number of community- run volunteer experiences for tourists via HTA-funded pilot programs led by the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, in collaboration with nonprofit organization Travel2change, more than doubled, from 30 to about 70, in recent years.

All this helped improve sentiment among residents about tourism, explains Malia Sanders, executive director of NaHAA. A quarterly survey taken in the fall showed that almost half of 1,949 Hawaii residents surveyed statewide said they believed tourism was being better managed than previously; there was little change, however, in the number saying their own island is being run for tourists at the expense of residents.

What comes next

Those calling for the closure of HTA favor building a different kind of tourism office that would focus exclusively on sustainable management of tourism, not marketing to tourists. It would take time to establish, and it will come with costs.

At risk are programs and experiences that are as valuable to travelers as to locals: HTA-sponsored events like the Hawaii Book and Music Festival on Oahu, which celebrates Hawaiian heritage and cultures through storytelling and song; the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival; the Maui Ukulele Festival; and the Big Island Chocolate Festival. These festivals help put Hawaiian artists and culture in the spotlight, giving visitors a richer experience and locals meaningful revenue streams.

Unless Gov. Josh Green vetoes the proposed state budget, many of these programs would probably suffer cuts in the next three to six months.

“To take all that away is terrifying,” says Sanders of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association. Also at risk would be the reservations systems and crowd control measures that are currently mitigating over- tourism in Hawaii’s most fragile and beautiful corners.

One solution would involve rethinking the HTA’s place in the government, giving it authority to work collaboratively with such other agencies as the Department of Land and Natural Resources, says tourism marketing veteran Haas. Goodwill to support such a radical restructuring may be lacking.

Outreach should be a part of any future agency’s mission, argues Sanders. Without it, she asks, “How do we attract the right kind of visitor that is willing to be educated while they are here — willing to contribute and be a part of social change?”

Jamshidi-Kent agrees. Marketing, she explains, makes the difference between telling visitors, “Hey, come to Hawaii, lay on the beach, have a mai tai,” to saying, “Hey, we would love you to come, but remember this is our home. You have to take care of this place.”

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I'm a native Hawaiian. Locals are tired of tourists treating the island like a theme park – here's what to know before you visit.

Keani Rawlins-Fernandez grew up in Hawaii and has seen tourism increase over the years.
Now a local council member, Rawlins-Fernandez says locals can feel overrun by tourists.
She said her advice for tourists is to be respectful and not entitled.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, a vice chair of the Maui County Council, about how tourism has affected her life in Hawaii. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

The tropical islands of Hawaii have long been a dream destination for tourists, drawn by the pristine beaches, vibrant culture, and an "aloha" free spirit. But for me it's home.

Many economic, social, and financial issues arise with unrestricted tourism, and I don't know how Hawaii will continue to cope with these numbers.

I grew up in Molokai, the only island of Hawaii where the economy is not reliant on tourism . Here, agriculture and farming are our main industries.

As a policymaker, I use my platform to fight against unrestricted tourism, counteract our current housing crisis, and campaign to protect our ocean and reef health.

It's my responsibility to advocate for my local community

When I was growing up, big corporations fell in love with the white-sand beaches, canoes, and divers and transformed our land into a shoreline of resorts like Waikiki in Oahu. They attempted to do this in Molokai, but the community fought it.

I went to law school to become a policymaker because it was my kuleana — responsibility — to advocate for my community the same way my elders did.

I was inspired by the work of Uncle Walter Ritte, a Native Hawaiian activist and educator who protested the military bombing practices on Kaho'olawe and won its eventual return to Native Hawaiian control from the US military.

I hold the County Council seat for the Molokai residency area and am part of the Efficiency Solutions and Circular Systems Committee, where I can discuss high-level budgets and allocation of resources to solve economic inequality that has been around for generations.

Tourism has displaced Native Hawaiians by driving up costs

The number of tourists in Hawaii is overwhelming the local population and threatening the islands' cultural heritage.

We can't commute easily because tourists are getting their sunset pictures

A large part of Hawaii's economy is reliant on tourism, but in popular tourist areas, overtourism is placing huge strains on the infrastructure and environment — especially when the number of visitors exceeds the resident population.

For example, famous sights like Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head on Oahu draw crowds of tourists for sunrise or sunset views. This clogs up our highways during the hours when locals are trying to commute or drop their kids off at school.

The state Department of Transportation wants to create more parking spots or widen highways. Instead, people should consider group trolley systems like the ones in Zion National Park in Utah, which I recently visited, to manage tourists. This makes more sense than allowing tourists to rent their own car for the duration of their visit.

Locals feel like their home is a theme park — and it can be dangerous

Our locals feel like their homes are treated like a theme park and there's no more privacy.

We've heard stories of tourists trespassing on properties for photo opportunities. But they need to understand that unlike television or social-media posts, this is real life.

There aren't always safeguards and railings at places like our waterfalls or volcanoes. Tourists have passed away or become severely hurt. It puts our emergency responders at risk if tourists are trespassing in dangerous places.

Our beaches and reefs are being degraded for the sake of tourism

Excessive tourist activity is also taking a major toll on Hawaii's fragile island ecosystems.

For instance, the natural sand dunes in Hawaii enable a cyclical restoration of the white-sand beaches. However, the construction of resorts and hotel chains on the dunes disrupts this cycle, preventing the beaches from replenishing lost sand. With the dunes unable to supply fresh sand, the beaches steadily erode away.

I've seen temporary seawalls being built in front of condos and resorts which interrupt the natural cycle of sand migration. We see how degraded our coral reefs, essential for marine wildlife, are in the face of pollution, sunscreen toxins, and careless snorkelers.

We are islands, and we don't have that much land to bury trash in landfills, so excessive rubbish ends up in our waters and damages the ecosystem.

Tourism has perks, but it needs to be managed better

There are some positives to the steady increase in tourists, like those tourists who volunteer with the Red Cross. However, extractive tourism needs to stop. I also want our community to rely on other jobs, because tourism ebbs and flows.

My message to tourists is to visit responsibly, respect local culture, and minimize one's footprint. Support local businesses over chain restaurants, go on tours instead of taking your own or a rented vehicle, make sure you're staying at a legitimate Airbnb or VRBO, and come with respect and gratitude, not entitlement.

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Main content

Hawaii Travel Future Uncertain: Continuing Declines + Other Concerns

As predicted, the most recent month tracked by the state’s Hawaii Tourism Authority, revealed yesterday, continued to confirm a downhill tourism slide compared with last year. We first reported on that as far back as last fall. Is this good or bad? Read on for our analysis of what’s happening.

While Hawaii hotel occupancy, one important measure of tourism’s health, was still a relatively robust 73%, down a modest 1% compared with last year, prices are still going in the wrong direction, up 1.5%. More interesting, however, is that this decline came after an additional occupancy slide of 2% the prior month amid weakness that continues to grow. These follow a line of successes Hawaii has achieved in travel recovery following Covid.

Hawaii’s marketing mess complicates matters.

The ongoing problems at HTA and its marketing partners are confusing and complicated, making delivering any concise tourism message difficult. Last week it was announced that the head of HTA will be departing, whether of his own volition or that of the state (HTA). Hawaii’s marketing issues interfere with the state’s ability to compete domestically and internationally for visitors. John De Fries, who has been head of HTA for the past three years, said only that he will not seek to extend his contract that ends this summer. His imminent departure follows a very long line of ongoing planned and unexpected departures at HTA.

Hawaii cozies up to fewer visitors who are spending more.

What’s happening is that Hawaii tourism, which has been stating its desire to reduce travel, is paying off: Fewer visitors, but they are paying more. That’s true even though it means lower occupancy, among other things. This is consistent, however, with HTA plans. The State Legislature has been on the brink of scrapping the HTA altogether. If that were to happen, these roles and responsibilities would be assumed by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. Rep Quinlan’s plan is that the focus there would be exclusively on destination management rather than destination marketing.

Hawaii accommodation rates continue to climb, but more slowly.

While room rates have continued to climb, that trend has begun to slow at last. Hawaii accommodation rates are outrageous, as we’ve pointed out multiple times. We are still awaiting more data points in that regard for May, but as we last mentioned, there was a reported 10% drop in west coast arrivals in April. Hawaii vacation rentals, another important measure, will also be reported separately by the state. Hawaii lawmakers are looking at entirely eliminating the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Fewer airline seats for now, but are more coming?

HTA’s partner HVCB said that in May, there were not as many Hawaii airline seats. They indicated that the capacity for all of 2023 is down over 3% compared with 2022. However, reliable source OAG/Cirium says that Hawaii airline seats will be up 6% compared with 2019, at least for July through September. We’ll await more clarification on these data points.

Data doesn’t reflect the true increase in Hawaii visitor costs.

The state says that so far this year, accommodations are costing, on average, 35% more than before Covid (2019). That is simply nonsense, as any Hawaii visitor can confirm. Instead, in total real numbers, including all fees and taxes, hotels and vacation rentals have increased by multiples. We recently mentioned an upcoming editors’ trip to a Kapolei Oahu business meeting, where the least expensive hotel, the Hampton Inn, including all taxes and fees, was more than $500 per night! No one likes being gouged, be it visitors or residents.

In Honolulu, the state says that rates in May were up 7.5% compared with 2022, with just slightly higher occupancy (2.5%) to a still healthy 78.3%. Kauai’s room rates went up another 8.2% compared with last year, with a slide in occupancy to a not-as-healthy 74.2%. The Big Island’s room rate, on the other hand, was down 3.1%, while occupancy was down 7% to just 66.9%. Maui saw its rates decline to an average of $539 (before approx. 18% taxes and various other fees), which was down 1.8% on 4.1% less traffic than last year.

West Coast and return visitors dropping.

The most important market for Hawaii travel is where the trouble is most apparent. In the last month for which we have complete details (April), arrivals from the West Coast declined 10% compared with last year. That as visitors choose destinations other than Hawaii.

Visitors still have an outsized impact on island infrastructure

The strain of tourism remains palpable still, in spite of the thus far modest declines. That is evident on the roads, at beaches, and everywhere else. US visitor arrivals for the remainder of the year and visitor spending are difficult to predict.

Still waiting for better value in Hawaii travel!

We have previously said that eventually, less demand will lead to better value in Hawaii travel. For now, the industry is happy to see fewer visitors spending more. But there is a point at which you can’t squeeze more out of everyone, and that point has arrived, in our opinion.

This will ultimately lead to Hawaii deals. Editor Jeff previously said, “We see significant softening in demand ahead this summer, which could bring hotel and rental car prices back down while airfares waver or continues to rise.” That is still true.

We’ve seen this coming for the past six months.

The warning signs about less demand for Hawaii travel bookings began during the December 2022 holiday season. There was an unexpected lack of Hawaii travel performance during a time of year that has always been the best performing.

There remains a glimmer of hope for late summer bookings, although that likelihood is becoming less and less. We reported last month that “Advance bookings for traditionally stellar July are currently off by up to one-third.”

We have recently been able to take advantage of some lower-priced Honolulu accommodation offers even in July. For example, a 3* Diamond Head location for $300 (including all taxes and fees). That is an unexpected improvement in price.

As you know, two Beat of Hawaii editors were in Europe last month. And there are more trips planned for this summer. We mention that because values in Europe, as confirmed by your comments, are much better overall than in Hawaii. That is across the board, including accommodations, car rentals, and restaurants, among other things. Airfare, well, not so much!

Airlines try to forecast the demand for Hawaii travel.

We confirm what HVCB previously said. That is, “A recent trend toward travelers booking rental cars and hotel rooms before airlines also has made it harder for airlines to forecast traveler demand.”

What is the best strategy for Hawaii visitors at this time?

As we have said before: “The current environment speaks to the benefits of last-minute bookings as yielding the best results. You can be sure that this isn’t what airlines, hotels, and car rentals want us to say. But that is clearly the situation at hand. On the other hand, this approach can also backfire if you wait too long. Those with more flexible travel plans will benefit most.”

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43 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Future Uncertain: Continuing Declines + Other Concerns”

Hawaii can’t decide whether they want tourists or not. We’ve been going to Maui with another couple for the last fours years, returning in April. This will probably be our last trip since there are other places that will appreciate our business. We love Maui but they want to gauge you for every little thing now. Caribbean here we come.

It’s been 12 years since my last trip to Maui. I would love to go back but the hotel/rental rates + extra fees are ridiculous. Price gouging is the real cause of the drastic decline in visitors. A one week stay isn’t worth 3 months of mortgage payments.

Try a short-term rental, in a resort area like Wailea, so that you don’t take housing away from locals and the displaced. One-third the price of hotel for double the space, especially right now and for the foreseeable future. You can actually go to Maui pretty reasonably if you know where to look. I know because I’m here.

Oahu infrastructure is dying. Hotel 400 plus insane taxes dinner 250 lunch 186 breakfast 2 smoothies 32.00. Collapse of Waikiki beach because they won’t back fill sand. Flights: 800 r/t car 946 for 10 days, hotel parking 500 for 10 days. Unfortunately, I have family on islands. Hawaii is going to get the California treatment. People are going to stop coming here anymore. Crime on Waikiki is bad too. I can go elsewhere and get an equivalent experience. The locals appreciate the visitors who inject money into the economy. Years and years of horrific mismanagement and corruption on State and local levels will finish off the Hawaiian economy.

I totally get the farmers markets are mostly frequented by residents, in some areas, maybe not Princeville! I don’t go to the market to pay less. We found prices are the same for the same item as in stores. I go to get better quality vegetables and fruit. It isn’t any one thing alone. It’s the accumulation of price, airfare, reservations, car rental, and convenience to get here from the east coast. We have to ask ourselves if the benefit is worth the trouble? For us, our conversation now is what do other places have to offer that we would never have considered in the past, because Kauai was our place to relax and surround ourselves in the beauty the island offers. Sadly, for the first time we have no time or plans to return.

We are in Kauai now. We’ve been coming here since 2004. We have not seen traffic like we are use to seeing. At Waimea Lookout parking was $10 plus it’s $5 a person. On a Sunday we got a parking spot right away. At the farmers market we paid $3 for a bunch of radishes, $5 for a bell pepper, $3 for a cucumber. At JoJo’s in Hanalei it’s $7.50 for a shave ice. We walked right in and sat down at our favorite fist stop Hamuras Saimin where a regular Special Bowl is now $10.50, a scoop of Lapperts is $7.50. Hawaii will get what it’s hoping for, less visitors. They should be careful what they wish for. After this we’re taking a break from Hawaii. We feel gouged. So many long time favorites have closed too. Very sad!

You may not realize that the farmers markets are largely frequented by residents. Check the prices at supermarkets if you think that $3 is too much for locally grown produce. It’s actually reasonable. And the farmers aren’t exactly getting rich at those prices. Keep in mind that all of their expenses are very high.

On Memorial Day we visited Akaka Falls and were surprised at the $10 parking fee plus $5 a person. My husband is a Veteran and we got free parking and free access saving us $35 to visit a waterfall we enjoy but we’ve already gone to several times over the years. If we had to pay $35 I’m not sure we would have stayed to view the waterfall. We also felt price gouged and skipped a couple local interests we would have liked to visit but felt the price was too much. $3 for a cucumber and $5 for a bell pepper? The fact that everything is so expensive will stop some people from visiting–or at least. not visiting as long or as often.

I love visiting Kauai. However, I keep reading articles about limiting visitors to beaches such as Tunnels and having ti make reservations months ahead. Also, so many articles about how the locals don’t want us there. There was one article with a huge list of places the locals don’t want us to go, and it was practically every bite able beach and landmark. I do not feel welcome.

All of this is good for our islands.. but sucks for us that have been displaced and living away from our home. There is no discounts for born and raised Hawaiians to go home and visit.

I agree….I had to leave my home because I could not afford to live there any longer. Does that mean former kama’aina are not welcome either? Where’s the aloha?

I booked our accommodations on the BI for next year three months ago. We will be staying for 10 weeks. Anyway, used the same management company but split our stay between two units, based upon availability. One of the units is currently for sale and under contract. Concerned that the new owner might not be willing to honor our reservation, I cancelled our reservation and extended our stay on the other unit for the entire 10 weeks. I was then offered a 10% discount–I am interpreting this as a “softening” of rates. The management company also refunded my deposit on the 1st unit in full.

I honestly think a lot of the issue is the state cracking down on Airbnb’s and VRBO units. They made it more affordable for the regular family. Who can afford $300 plus per night is a hotel, eating out constantly and the other expenses associated. Atleast the state should start re issuing TVU’s to owners that want to do short term rentals.

Pat G: Interesting. We would always rent a place on Maui at a low rise oceanfront development. We have been going there since 1995. A three br OF depending on the unit usually ran $400 – $500 a day – once Covid hit the price has skyrocketed to as much as $1000 – $1500/day. Better than a hotel if you figure 3 br, but honestly that is a huge increase and not affordable.

I agree – I know I could never afford that. It is still half the price of 3 rooms in the hotels around there, though, plus you get a full kitchen, large lanai, etc.

About your oceanfront condo….If you go one block away from the water on Maui, you can get beautiful, large 2-bedroom condos with ocean views for $350 to $600 depending on the season. That’s a no brainer, IMO.

PAT G Agreed, but I come to see the Ocean. I live in San Diego and can drive to it, but when I’m on Maui I want to see, hear and smell it every minute.

How about these:

airbnb.com/rooms/23482500?source_impression_id=p3_1687544654_fWwUKPA%2FdB4SHOAq

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The novel coronavirus, first detected at the end of 2019, has caused a global pandemic.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Facing economic devastation, hawaii attempts to revive tourism.

Ryan Finnerty

Hawaiian Airlines jets outside Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. Hawaii has seen a more than 90% reduction in the number of air travelers arriving since the start of the pandemic. Ryan Finnerty/Hawaii Public Radio hide caption

Hawaii has some the highest levels of unemployment in the country. Joblessness rose to Great Depression-levels in the spring following shutdown orders that local authorities issued in March.

In addition to the business closures and restrictions on large gatherings common across the country, Hawaii was also the first state to require out-of-state travelers to quarantine upon arrival.

That, combined with public concerns over the safety of flying, tanked Hawaii's tourism-centric economy.

For seven months, Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport has been largely empty. The concourses have been marked by shuttered concessions shops and public address announcements directing people to quarantine.

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The scene represents a stark reversal from the time before COVID-19. Roughly 30,000 people arrived in Hawaii every day during 2019, although the number approached 40,000 during the summer travel season.

That number has declined dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. During the initial lockdowns in the spring, the number of daily arrivals dropped below 500.

The drop coincided with Gov. David Ige's order in March that all travelers arriving from out of state undergo a 14-day self-quarantine upon arrival.

While the measure was initially successful in preventing the spread of the virus, it came at a steep cost. The drop in visitors sent a shockwave through the state's $18 billion tourism industry, which represents the foundation of Hawaii's economy.

Unemployment surged, reaching almost 24% in April and May.

Although the situation has improved somewhat since then, 1 in 6 workers are still out of a job. They are people like Christina Hilfiker, who was a restaurant server in the popular tourist destination of Haleiwa on Oahu's iconic North Shore.

Hilfiker lost her job in March and said she is struggling to get by.

"I'm sort of hanging on by a thread, relying on friends and family. You can get a lot of miles out of a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter," she said in an interview.

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Hilfiker is one of thousands of Hawaii residents who have experienced lengthy delays in getting approved for jobless benefits.

Like many states, Hawaii's unemployment system has been overwhelmed, saddling applicants with the financial and emotional stress of no income for weeks and even months.

Hawaii's local businesses are also struggling. They have endured not just one, but two full lockdowns — one in the spring and a second later in the summer when the state experienced a surge of new infections.

Many businesses were being sustained by federal benefits from the CARES Act, but those have long since run out.

"It's just really crushing not to get the help," said Melissa Bow, owner of Via Gelato, an ice cream shop in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kaimuki.

She said in an interview that during the second lockdown , many small-business owners were at the end of their rope, struggling to make rent with being able to generate revenue.

"They're just so, so tired," Bow said of her fellow entrepreneurs. "Not sleeping at night, zero income for a long time. No help on the horizon. They're thinking about shuttering their business."

However, help may be on the way. The state of Hawaii recently adjusted its travel rules , allowing incoming passengers who test negative for the coronavirus to skip the quarantine.

That is significant because tourism represents nearly a quarter of Hawaii's economy , according to Sumner La Croix, an economist with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and author of Hawai'i: Eight Hundred Years of Political and Economic Change.

"That's a huge chunk and if that 23% isn't operating, it will look something like depression here," La Croix said.

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On the first day of the relaxed travel rules, the number arriving airline passengers more than tripled compared with recent weeks but still represented a fraction of the pre-pandemic level.

Major players in Hawaii's visitor industry hope the relaxed quarantine will help relaunch tourism but are preparing for a slow recovery .

Hawaiian Airlines recently announced layoffs for 30% of its staff. Ahead of the changes, Avi Mannis, the airline's senior vice president of marketing, predicted that the relaxed rules will entice some travelers to fly but many are expected to stay grounded well into 2021.

"How quickly we can put people back to work is going to depend on the success of public health interventions, and testing, and screening that the state is putting in place," Mannis said.

The importance of public health measures has been reiterated by local hoteliers, for whom the lucrative end-of-year holiday season is normally a critical period.

Currently, only around half of the hotels have reopened, according to the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. The group's president, Mufi Hannemann, said it is not yet clear if people will be willing to travel.

"I think October, and how we handle October into November, will be critical in determining what kind of holiday season we have here," he said, adding that a new spike in cases would likely depress travel again.

A winter surge of COVID-19 would be devastating — not just for hotels and other businesses but for the 80,000 Hawaii workers currently out of a job.

public health

Tourism Roars Back in Hawaii But It Looks Very Different As New Challenges Surface

Lebawit Lily Girma, Skift

June 9th, 2021 at 9:52 AM EDT

Experts say Hawaii's tourism officials are making a genuine effort to build back better, but this is where the rubber meets the road: Who will tackle Hawaii's overcrowding problem? And with legislators aiming to slash Hawaii Tourism Authority's funding and authority, how will a majority domestic tourism market impact Hawaii's travel industry?

A fragmented global tourism recovery has created the perfect storm for Hawaii to rank as one of the most in-demand destinations for American travelers this summer. It’s not the slow ramp-up that the Hawaii Tourism Authority had anticipated, nor a larger reopening in the midst of a global competition for travelers.

With major source markets including Asia, Oceania and Canada still restricted to travelers in both directions, plus the flow of disposable income from federal stimulus checks and controlled pandemic in Hawaii — west and east coast U.S. travelers are flocking to the archipelago.

“Tourism is back and it’s very American,” John De Fries, CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. “I would expect that summer in Hawaii is going to really match where we were in summer 2019; that’s a lot faster than any of us could have predicted.”

Close to a half million visitors flew to Hawaii in April, primarily from the mainland. The numbers are approaching the daily visitor average of 28,500 a day in 2019 — De Fries said that the last couple of weeks have averaged between 21,000 and 23,000 tourists a day.

Visitor spend for April reached $811 million, compared to $1.32 billion in April 2019.

Beyond the numbers, however, lies a more complex tourism rebound.

It’s a lower-spending and beach-focused domestic tourist that’s heading to Hawaii, which could have unintended consequences for its travel industry.

The rush also comes just as Hawaii Tourism Authority is facing a potential $20 million budget and authority slash, after months of being knee deep into the work of “building back better .” Community-based destination management action plans are almost complete, identifying each island’s hotspots and priorities, and a regenerative tourism campaign launched this month.

House bill 862 aims to limit the tourism board’s role to marketing rather than funding cultural programs, citing accountability for pre-pandemic spending patterns. Hawaii Governor David Ige will either sign or veto the bill by June 21.

“That budget reduction is concerning but it’s not the end of the world, we anticipate a surplus that we will carry over of roughly $12 million,” De Fries said.

Of greater concern to De Fries are the future funding mechanism changes in the bill. The transient accommodation tax, which usually goes into a Hawaii Tourism Authority special fund, would move into the state’s general fund. Those tourism tax funds would then have to be spent within the fiscal year and left over monies wouldn’t roll over as in the past.

“This will affect Hawaii Tourism Authority’s multi-year contracts and having some level of certainty; those things preempt the normal flow of operations and business,” said De Fries.

The bill points to a disconnect in state legislators’ understanding of the tourism board’s expanded role in managing tourism beyond marketing, particularly since De Fries took over as CEO in September 2020 and began pushing for a community-based approach to tourism.

“It’s our responsibility to educate our own elected officials,” De Fries said. “But at the same time, if we don’t get up front and continue to try and reshape the stereotypes that have evolved over time in travel to Hawaii, we won’t be able to affect the kind of change that we seek.”

Residents are showing more faith that tourism reform can happen than they did six months ago, but there are looming legislative restrictions on the tourism board’s funding and authority — just as it tries to reinvent the wheel.

A New Regenerative Tourism Campaign Series

Hawaii’s tourism board released a new video series this month as part of the “Malama Hawaii” regenerative tourism campaign.

Each clip features a traditional practitioner or conservation leader telling the story of a key aspect of Hawaiian culture, from caring for fish ponds to farming and protecting forests and reefs.

Viewers are invited to come and “Malama” or care for Hawaii by learning about unique ways to connect and restore the destination beyond the tourist tropes.

De Fries said that it’s about communicating to the markets the different ways of life that are of value to Hawaiians, and at the same time, creating a new approach for those practitioners and non-profit organizations who are currently rebuilding their capacity after being impacted by the pandemic. Tourists volunteering will go towards that effort.

“The tourism industry in Hawaii has to be invited into those places, so we look forward for that to grow,” De Fries said. “Those videos are powerful because these are local people telling local stories and there are no better storytellers than local people telling their own stories.”

Some of the non-profits featured might have capacity for six tourists at a time, while others can handle up to 30 people at a time, De Fries added. ““It’s an introductory program on both sides of the equation — both for the visitor and for the host.”

The regenerative tourism campaign has resonated locally, and tourism marketers are also applauding the effort.

“It’s a great start,” said Frank Haas, president of Marketing Management, a travel and hospitality marketing consulting firm, and former dean of hospitality at Kapi’olani Community College.

Haas said that it was pushing back against “the curse of a strong brand,” and that people have this intense image of Hawaii as beaches and beautiful resorts that is hard to change.

“The campaign strikes a nice balance of education and inspiration through character-driven and community-led storytelling,” said Rob Holmes, founder and chief strategist at GLP Films , a content marketing agency focused on the travel industry and producing sustainable tourism storytelling campaigns. “That works really well in tourism because it taps into emotions and creates powerful connections.”

Holmes said that the tourism board should be commended for engaging stakeholders in the community and giving travelers the tools and inspiration to be part of the solution, while also reframing Hawaii’s measure of success by celebrating regeneration and preventing overtourism rather than pushing for more visitors.

For Haas, changing mindsets through social marketing takes time and as such, expectations need to be managed.

Meanwhile the initial phase of the Malama Hawaii campaign, which Skift reported earlier this year, continues with tourism stakeholders offering travel perks to visitors who sign up for regenerative tours.

“We’re proud to report that Kualoa Ranch is in high demand and reporting many fully sold-out dates and future booking demand for the package and the ranch itself through the entire summer,” said Sean Dee, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Outrigger Hotels & Resorts , in a statement. “We plan to continue this program for years to come.”

Resident Attitudes

Just a week ago, the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center published the results of a new and independently run online survey measuring resident attitudes to destination management issues.

The survey was completed by 700 Hawaiian residents between April 16 and May 3. The findings, while not surprising to tourism experts, are a major nod to Hawaii Tourism Authority’s efforts in pushing for regenerative tourism and its ongoing work in creating a community-minded tourism economy through new DMAPs.

Among the survey’s most interesting data:

52 percent of residents are still in favor of a visitor cap on the islands if it were possible
57 percent said that if forced to choose between capping visitor counts to Hawaii or management of crowded areas, they would pick the latter
60 percent believe the government should control or regulate tourism more than other businesses, and 75 percent support regulation of short term rentals
In a list of actions that the state could take to address tourism impacts, residents supported the most: informing tourists about “responsible visiting,” solving problems at overcrowded locations, and funding environmental groups “to repair damage” to natural resources caused by tourist use.

As for Hawaii tourism officials’ current track focusing on destination management, 35 percent said “keep the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and give it more authority to do its cultural, environmental and community work,” while nine percent chose eliminating the tourism board and marketing Hawaii altogether.

Backyard Tourism’s Potential Consequences

The international visitor has all but disappeared for Hawaii for the near future. Out of the near half million in April, just 10,842 came from Japan, Canada, Europe and other international markets.

According to Haas, there may be broader implications for Hawaii with international heads being replaced by domestic ones.

“What’s coming back is the domestic market and particularly the West Coast market, which has different spending patterns,” Haas said. “One of the issues that we’ve long had is an overall decline in visitors spending, especially when you adjust for inflation.”

With the higher end of the visitor market — the international traveler – in terms of daily spending now missing, the effects on the tourism economy are yet to be seen.

“So even though we’ve got this rapidly increasing volume of return visitors, we’re getting the visitors who tend to spend less — this has larger implications for tourism, from fewer stays in full service hotels versus short term rentals and in turn affecting employment.”

Another implication relates to the eventual return of the international markets, which are often wholesale driven. Will those markets be able to get room blocks when the international travel starts to come back, if rooms are going to be filled with fit domestic visitors?

Experts recently predicted that global tourism recovery would not take place until 2024 . With Hawaii ticking all the boxes as a nature-packed destination, plus American travelers focused on health and safety issues, the domestic tourism trend is likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

Regenerative Tourism Mission Transcends Agencies

Redirecting course for Hawaii long-term through regenerative tourism will require Hawaii’s tourism officials to work across various government agencies with jurisdiction over the archipelago’s natural resources.

“This whole Malama mindset is something that transcends our agencies; our efforts are being driven by having a different mindset about it rather than government agency to government agency,” De Fries said. “There is a philosophical foundation that is guiding us to collaborate more effectively.”

In its resident sentiment report, the University of Hawaii also concludes that “it may now be time for a truly systematic weighing of alternative approaches to tourism governance, though that should include the possibility of truly committing to HTA [Hawaii Tourism Authority] much as it is now or with selected improvements.”

Hawaii Tourism Authority’s detailed destination management action plans outline hotspots and aspirational goals for each island following multiple stakeholder and community meetings.

But there are no actual solutions proposed within the report itself. Haas said it’s because the Hawaii Tourism Authority does not have the power to make unilateral decisions on overcrowded sights overseen by other state agencies.

“The destination management action plans highlight the issues but they also suffer from the fact that Hawaii Tourism Authority does not have the authority, despite its name, to actually do something about that,” Haas said. “The rubber meets the road when you say who should do something about that and how and with what resources?

Haas said that the new resident sentiment survey — which he participated in — confirms this need, that someone, whether the tourism board or the governor, needs to be able to say how the management of tourism will happen.

For Haas, regenerative tourism is ultimately a long-haul effort. “It’s a slog and that’s why we really should have been doing management planning back when tourists were at five to six million; you can’t just snap your fingers because they’re foundational problems to be fixed over time.”

De Fries said that while visitor caps are not possible, efforts can be made to sensitize airlines, for instance, in terms of where future flights go and the destination management action plans provide a framework for developing new public policies.

For now, the tourism board will be expanding its local ambassador program to add guides and support in areas across Hawaii’s islands that tend to be overcrowded.

“I’m feeling optimistic but at the same time I’m feeling challenged because many of these campaigns and systems that we’re talking about require time to get them implemented,” De Fries said.

“We’re not going to have that ramp up that we had anticipated, but I’m encouraged by the way leaders in our industry and community have been responding.”

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Tags: coronavirus recovery , hawaii , overtourism , regenerative tourism

Photo credit: Tourism is bouncing back to Hawaii faster than tourism officials anticipated, just as a regenerative tourism campaign launches. Nicholas Tomasello / Hawaii Tourism Authority

Smart Living

Native Hawaiians Are Asking For a Reduction in Tourism, and We Should Listen

Scenic views of Kauai from above. Keâ??e Beach is at the end of the road on the North Shore.

In 2014, my family traveled to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. I fondly recall climbing the dormant volcano Diamond Head, attending my first luau, and searching for a humuhumunukunukuapua'a while snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. All things considered, we were a typical "tourist family" seeking both adventure and knowledge as we navigated the island's hotspots.

Five years later, we were privileged enough to return, and this time we attempted to broaden our horizons and look for beaches , trails, and restaurants that were frequented by more locals than tourists. This approach to traveling has become an increasingly popular option for travelers today. Though this may seem harmless, there's been mounting concern among Native Hawaiians and locals about the ethics and sustainability of these tourism trends, and those feelings have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.

According to the 2021 Hawaii Tourism Authority's Resident Sentiment Survey, only 53 percent of Hawaiians feel that tourism has been more beneficial than harmful . "It's the lowest measure since we started taking the survey in 1988," Chris Kam, the president and COO of Omnitrak, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser . Kam explained that some of the primary issues residents are facing include overcrowding, damage to the environment, and higher cost of living. Compounded together, it makes sense that attitudes toward tourism have become more and more negative, hence the calls for a decrease in travel.

According to the 2021 Hawaii Tourism Authority's Resident Sentiment Survey, only 53 percent of Hawaiians feel that tourism has been more beneficial than harmful.

In 2019, a record 10 million tourists visited Hawaii , a group of islands with a population of 1.5 million. A year after the pandemic halted travel, 2021's numbers are quickly approaching — and even surpassing — that rate, creating issues with overcrowding.

This summer, for example, the islands experienced a rental-car crisis . Companies like Hertz and Avis had sold portions of their fleets during the pandemic to save cash, decreasing the number of cars available by more than 40 percent , according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). Then, as travel resurged, the issue of supply and demand created astronomical rental prices that were capping at $700 per day, compared to the prepandemic $50.

Shocked, some tourists began renting U-Hauls instead. This transportation loophole left a number of offices unable to provide equipment to locals who needed to move, prompting the HTA to release a statement saying they "[do] not condone visitors renting moving trucks and vans for leisure purposes."

The displacement of Native Hawaiian people has been a harmful runoff effect of overcrowding for years. Micah Doane, cofounder of the beach-cleaning nonprofit Protectors of Paradise, told The Guardian that his grandmother's family was evicted from the Makua Beach area during World War II so a military training facility could be built. Similarly, the building of luxury hotels has also been used to displace locals. Today, places like Makua Beach are frequented by resort guests who disregard the rules and leave behind excess waste. "You see every day these disrespectful people come and do whatever they want . . . It's to the point where it's kind of hurt an entire community," Doane said.

The pandemic had returned a sort of peace to the islands in which nature and wildlife were able to thrive. Without the usual influx of tourists, researchers from the University of Hawaii were able to see clearer waters, schools of larger fish, and monk seals at Hanauma Bay for the first time in years. Kyle Kajihiro, an activist and lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told The New York Times that tourists tend to treat the islands like a "play land" and ignore their history and the residents' social-justice and environmental concerns. That's why we too often see trash left on beaches , coral reefs damaged by unapproved sunscreens, and sacred sites disrespected.

If not for the fact that countless endangered and threatened plant and animal species call the islands home, tourists should care about and respect the environment simply because Natives and locals are asking them to. Resorts are often owned and run by non-Hawaiians, whose interest in purchasing property (commercial or otherwise) is largely responsible for the state's high cost of living. Meanwhile, Native Hawaiians are disproportionately employed by the tourism industry in low-paying service jobs.

During an interview with Hawaii News Now , Lawrence Boyd, an economist and associate specialist with the University of Hawaii Center for Labor Education, touched on the rampant economic inequality in Hawaii. "Basically what Hawaii has become is a preferred place for the international 1 percent to buy property ," he said. Today, the median price for a single-family home in Honolulu sits at $992,500 , while the median household income in Honolulu is $87,470 .

Together, it's easy to see how these conditions have led to Hawaii having the highest rate of homelessness per capita in the nation , with Native Hawaiians being disproportionately affected. "There historically hasn't been enough consideration for how tourism and tourists can contribute to making life sustainable and really livable for the locals who serve them here," Bryant de Venecia, a communications organizer for the workers' union in Honolulu, Unite Here Local 5, told The New York Times .

It's important to remember that as tourists, we get to experience the best our destination has to offer without dealing with the realities and stresses of everyday life for those who call Hawaii home. So before jumping on the next plane to experience your own White Lotus -style vacation , take some time to reflect on the role you would play on the islands and how that would affect the Native population and environment. As tourism continues to evolve based on people's needs, one of the best things we can do as visitors is respect the wishes of the locals who want to preserve their community, culture, and environment.

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Hawaii Is a Paradise, but Whose?

A growing number of Hawaiians say that tourism isn’t working for them. Here’s how they are trying to change it.

By Tariro Mzezewa

Locals in Oahu know that the best way to get from Waikiki’s crowded beaches to the cool North Shore is to drive along the island’s eastern coast. The road is framed by mountains, ocean and greenery so lush and beautiful, it’s hard to focus the eye on one place for too long, for fear of missing the next scenic attraction.

On a recent trip along the route, something else stood out: the upside down Hawaiian flags flying at almost every stop.

The flag, which has the union jack in the bottom left corner, instead of the usual top left, hung in storefronts in Waikiki and was printed on T-shirts in Waimanalo, it was stuck on the bumpers of passing cars in Kailua and flying from the backs of trucks in Kahuku and other towns on the North Shore.

The flag has become a symbol of solidarity among Hawaiians who oppose the construction of a large new telescope on Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii . Mauna Kea, at 32,000 feet from seafloor to summit, and with 13,796 feet above sea level, is one of the best places in the northern hemisphere, if not the world, to observe the cosmos, experts say. The telescope’s proponents say that it will bring hundreds of jobs to the island and advance humanity’s study of space.

But it has faced fierce resistance from some native Hawaiians for whom Mauna Kea is sacred ground and a place of roots, and their allies. Opponents of the telescope say they are tired of having their land taken for purposes that benefit others and for the often elusive promise of jobs that fail to deliver in terms of numbers or a living wage.

“The struggle at Mauna Kea right now is one of the biggest issues that has realigned many cultural political relationships in Hawaii,” said Kyle Kajihiro, an activist and lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “It’s really quite an amazing emergence of Hawaiian activism of cultural awareness.”

The battle over the telescope has revealed fissures that have long existed in Hawaii, a place that is all but synonymous with tourism — the most-popular destination for honeymoons in the United States and a bucket-list perennial. The fight has inspired actions around the islands, all relating to how land is used and who benefits from it.

The spirit of protest is most visible in Oahu, where in Kahuku demonstrators have spent the last several months fighting the construction of eight wind turbines, each standing at 568 feet — taller than the tallest skyscraper in Honolulu. Protesters say the turbines will have adverse long term health effects on the population. The company building them says there is no evidence to support those claims and promises to bring jobs to the area. More than 160 people have been arrested there.

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In southeast Oahu, in September, 28 people were arrested trying to block the building of a park and recreation center in Waimanalo, a largely agricultural town. The developers behind the center say it will bring jobs and create a new community space, but opponents fear it will be a magnet for tourists and will destroy the forest and beach used by locals.

In Honolulu, in May, Hilton employees protested, demanding a better contract and job protections. In July, hotel employees went on strike to protest what they said were low wages and the firing of 45 workers by Diamond Resorts, an operator of multiple properties in the United States and Europe. The company said it would turn one of its hotels into a timeshare resort, which requires fewer workers than a traditional hotel.

“We value our dedicated team members at The Modern Honolulu and we were pleased to reach a contract agreement that includes a significant pay increase,” a spokesman for Diamond said. “We are continuing our planned efforts to convert the property into a world-class vacation ownership resort.”

Most people in Hawaii, especially in the tourism industry work more than one job to barely get by, said Bryant de Venecia, communications organizer for the workers’ union, Unite Here Local 5, which represents resort workers.

“Mauna Kea has lit a fire for Hawaiians who are tired of watching their land, resources and work be used at the expense of their well-being,” he said.

Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in, according to the 2018 Annual Average Cost of Living Index by the Council for Community and Economic Research. Groceries, for example, cost 60 percent more than the national average.

“People are tired of being decorative — Hawaiians as well as people who live in Hawaii,” said Maile Meyer, who owns Nā Mea Hawai’i , a bookstore in Honolulu that sells products from smaller local makers. “Y ou’re seeing a phenomenon of natives gathering again and completely finding our way back to each other as part of the solution.”

Jobs aren’t enough

A common thread between these protests is that they are being led by locals. They say that since Europeans first arrived in the 18th century, Hawaiian land has been taken and misused by non-Hawaiians, and often to the detriment of Hawaiians and their traditions. The endeavors that have sparked these recent protests all promise jobs, just as tourism and defense have in the past.

But perhaps for the first time in recent Hawaiian history, natives and locals are saying the quality of these jobs is not good enough.

“We’re having to move away from quantity to quality,” said Laurien Baird Hokuli’i Helfrich-Nuss, the founder of Conscious Concepts , a company that works with local organizations on sustainable tourism initiatives. “Now that local people are getting more agency, they are learning more, going into a more curious space of saying ‘It’s great that this company is providing jobs, but what kind of jobs are they? Are they good jobs? Are they paying a livable wage?”

Tourism is the biggest driver of Hawaii’s economy, accounting for 21 percent of jobs. Nearly 10 million people visited the state in 2018 and in 2019, guest arrivals were expected to surpass that number, hitting a record high. And although more people are visiting Hawaii, they are spending less there.

Locals say that resorts are often owned and run by non-Hawaiians, with Hawaiian people employed in the lower-paying service jobs, and that development often benefits outsiders at the expense of native and local well-being.

“There historically hasn’t been enough consideration for how tourism and tourists can contribute to making life sustainable and really livable for the locals who serve them here,” Mr. de Venecia said.

More than a “play land”

The feeling of escape — of fleeing to a nearby paradise with stunning beaches and luxurious resorts — has long been Hawaii’s appeal to the traveling public. While the hottest trends in travel now are the search for authenticity and ways to experience local life, many people who visit Hawaii are looking to get away from daily life. They come to sit on the beach and drink a matai without thinking about much else. Their interaction with local culture is often limited to watching a hula show at the hotel luau.

“We realized a lot of folks who would visit us who would normally have more consciousness about history and social justice concerns seem to turn off that part of their brain when they think about Hawaii,” Mr. Kajihiro, the activist and lecturer, said, adding that people treat the islands as a “play land.”

But this decision to turn off their brains is hurting Hawaii and Hawaiians, he said.

While working for the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker peace and justice organization, Mr. Kajihiro and his colleague Terrilee Kekoʻolani studied the environmental and social effects of colonization, militarization and overdevelopment of Hawaii. They learned that tourism was one of the industries with some of the most damaging effects on Oahu, he said, citing overcrowding, a higher cost of living and higher prices for goods.

The pair began offering alternative tours of the island, which they call DeTours, in 2004 and have seen increased interest in recent years. Their work was included in the recently published Duke University Press book “ Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawaii, ” a collection of essays, interviews and family histories about ethical and contextualized tourism in the islands edited by Hokulani K. Aikau and Vernadette Vicuña González.

The tours are given to groups of people who want to learn about Hawaii from the perspective of local Hawaiians. They include a deep history on the ways military life is hidden across the island. During a typical tour, guests go to Iolani Palace, the Hawaiian royal residence, then to Chinatown and some of the old neighborhoods where new immigrants to Hawaii traditionally settled. The next stop is usually Fort Shafter, the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific; then Camp Smith, but the main part of the tour is Ke Awalau o Puʻuloa — Pearl Harbor.

During a DeTours of Pearl Harbor, Mr. Kajihiro pauses in the “Oahu court” between the Pearl Harbor galleries and the museum and asks guests to look at the placards in the hallway. At the placard that says, “The Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown in 1893,” he explains that this one sentence has been controversial with the United States government because it acknowledges the government-backed overthrow of Queen Lili’uokolani, which unsettles American claims to Hawaii. In the museum’s Attack Gallery, Mr. Kajihiro points to a small image of the Hono’uli’uli internment camp where Japanese people were held during World War II and uses it as a jumping-off point for a conversation about immigration and civil rights.

“People already come here with so many images and ideas about what Hawaii is that it’s really hard for them to see something different, so that’s why we started calling our work ‘DeTours,” Mr. Kajihiro said. “To swerve off the path that most people are going to see or understand and consume and shake it up by raising some more critical perspectives and introducing a lot of historical facts that are not so pleasant.”

A new type of tourism

The DeTours team is part of a movement looking to change what tourism means in Hawaii. Ms. Nuss, of Conscious Concepts, is originally from Oahu and returned in 2009 after working in hospitality in the Caribbean, New York, Miami and other places on the United States mainland.

“ I came home seeing something happening in Hawaii that I didn’t see when I left,” she said. “My generation was stepping into their leadership roles and doing it differently, reconnecting for a movement back to the land.”

But she quickly realized that what many companies were doing didn’t align with her vision for supporting tourism while ensuring the well-being of overworked Hawaiians.

In 2015, Ms. Nuss created her company to find ways to support Hawaiian businesses function sustainably while also remaining a key part of the most important sector in Oahu — tourism. Ms. Nuss has worked with farms, artists and nonprofit organizations to change their offerings so they can appeal to tourists, while still benefiting Hawaiians. A farm hoping to attract tourists to volunteer might turn to her to figure out the best ways to reach them. She described her work with as “consciously creating experiences for travelers and opportunities for locals.”

“I had a realization about how our tourism industry is presently run, which is coming from the commodification of culture,” she said. “I realized what was happening in my communities and the value systems that were driving it were contradictory to the form of tourism that I was being a part of.”

To give tourists a more authentic experience of “the real Hawaii,” the artists Roxy and Matt Ortiz, invite them into their studio in the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu. The couple is known for their elaborate murals of fanciful tree houses, which they create under the name Wooden Wave .

“When people come see us work, it gives them a totally different way to experience Hawaii,” Ms. Ortiz said. “And it’s a fun way for us to give tourists a different experience than they usually see in those brochures.”

In these studio visits, guests can see the couple’s work in progress, but also learn about ahupua’a, the ancient system of land division, in which the island was separated into slices, each slice running from the top of the local mountain to the shore. During the visit, Mr. Ortiz explains that each ahupua’a included forest area up high and a cultivated area below, and depending on the politics and economy of each ahupua’a, its size was different from another.

Mr. Ortiz said that even the slightest opportunity for tourists to think about how water and land have always worked together and why they hold importance to Hawaiians can encourage them to be more thoughtful when interacting with locals and the land and sea while visiting.

“When people have some of the history and context they can appreciate the art more and they can experience the island in a more meaningful way,” he said.

Another way tourists can learn about the land and engage with locals is by visiting a local farm like Kahumana Farm in Waianae on the west side of Oahu.

In November, Chloe Anderson, a therapist and teacher in California, visited the farm and stayed for four of her six days in Oahu. There she shared a room with others, did yoga, learned about the produce grown and cooked on the farm and generally felt like she got a more meaningful experience than she would have at a luxury resort, removed from daily Hawaiian life.

“We had like three or four different activities we would do every day,” she said. “But so many things were based off the farm and at the farm. We still had the experience of being a tourist in Hawaii and going on hikes and beach excursions, but also of experiencing something more.”

Some business owners are committed to staying in the tourism sector, and are trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that people just won’t work in the main industry there is and I don’t think Hawaiians want to stop tourism altogether, but we are all working to find ways of doing it responsibly and thoughtfully,” said Shane Hiroshi Gibler, who co-owns Royal Hawaiian Catamaran , which is based in Honolulu and offers snorkel tours, sunset cruises and private charters.

On Mr. Gibler’s boat, guests are asked not to bring any plastic and recycling is available aboard. Mr. Gibler educates guests an education about fishing, food and the importance of the ocean and the land to Hawaiians. The Royal Catamaran team regularly gathers people to clean up the shoreline and has been working with the Surfrider Foundation to remove ghost nets — fishing nets that have been lost or left behind by fishing boats — from reefs or the ocean.

The idea, one echoed by Mr. Kajihiro, is to encourage tourists to think about how they can leave their resort, even for one day of their trip, and contribute to the place they are visiting.

“The point is to make folks more responsible when they come here and to interrogate this notion that Hawaii is somehow a place for them,” Mr. Kajihiro said. “If you are thinking about coming here, ask yourself: Who are you in relation to this place? Are you bringing something that will be of value to the host, the people who live here? What will be your impact and your legacy be?”

52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Discover the best places to go in 2020, and find more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter : Each week you’ll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.

An earlier version of this article misstated the cost of groceries in Hawaii. They cost 60 percent more than the national average, not more than 60 percent of the national average.

How we handle corrections

Tariro Mzezewa is a travel reporter at The New York Times. More about Tariro Mzezewa

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Tourists Are Solidly Back In Hawaii. And That’s Keeping The Economy Rolling Along

In a new report, economists say Hawaii's visitor industry will help prevent a recession in the isles.

In a new report, economists say Hawaii’s visitor industry will help prevent a recession in the isles.

Hawaii’s economy is expected to limp into 2024 without sliding into the mild recession expected for the rest of the U.S., thanks to a rebounded tourism economy and a construction sector buoyed by public projects, economists predict in a mid-year forecast.

Titled “Promise and Peril for the Hawaii Economy,” the report by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization notes the state still faces risks from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy of keeping interest rates high, along with tighter lending conditions caused by recent mainland bank failures.

But the UHERO economists note Hawaii’s inflation rate is already starting to ebb as key industries remain strong.

“It was really the U.S. visitors who have helped us get out of the pandemic,” UHERO economist Peter Fuleky said during a call with reporters.

Perhaps most remarkable, the study notes, Hawaii’s tourism has bounced back to nearly pre-pandemic levels despite a slowing global economy.

“In March, total visitor arrivals were 14% higher than in March 2022 and just 3% below their 2019 level,” the forecast notes. “Average daily visitor census, which takes into account the length of stay, fared even better, running only 1% below the level in 2019. The visitor industry benefited from strong spring break travel this year, which lifted weekly passenger counts in March above last year’s levels.”

In crafting the forecast, a half dozen UHERO economists relied on a range of data, including state and county payroll, unemployment, income numbers, visitor arrivals and spending, plus national data on things like food prices, U.S. outbound travel and housing prices.

The report included sidebars exploring the effects of climate change on Hawaii tourism – and the role the industry plays in causing climate change – and an exploration of Hawaii’s high cost of living, showing just how much higher it is than every other U.S. state.

The reports main authors were UHERO’s executive director, Carl Bonham; senior research fellow, Byron Gangnes; economists Steven Bond-Smith, Peter Fuleky, and research economist Rachel Inafuku.

Although the authors explored variety of themes, the recurring theme was one touching on a central aspect of Hawaii’s economy: the numbers of tourists that flocked to the state in record numbers just before the pandemic – and vanished during the crisis — are back.

Special Report

This ongoing series explores where Hawaii’s economy is headed and whether it can grow beyond tourism.

Japan Tourism May Never Be The Same

One thing that has confounded tourist executives is the failure of Japanese visitors to return to Hawaii. Fuleky said this seems partly the result of major demographic shifts in Japan, and not just the transitory effects of a weak yen.

“It goes beyond the fact that the yen is weak,” Fuleky said. “Some Japanese say they’re not going to travel again.”

The forecast cited a survey of 15,000 adults from 15 countries by the research firm Morning Consult, in which a third of Japanese respondents said they will never undertake leisure travel again. This was the highest negative rate across the countries surveyed and twice as high as in the U.S. and South Korea.

Fuleky said the results could have to do with Japan’s aging population, including growing numbers of elderly people who don’t foresee themselves traveling again.

Is Tourism Degenerative, Not Regenerative?

At a time when much discussion about managing tourism in Hawaii centers on what advocates call “regenerative tourism,” the study also raises a sobering red flag.

The idea: side effects of tourism risk destroying the things that make Hawaii an attractive tourist destination, including beautiful beaches and coral reefs and a comfortable and predictable climate.

Put more bluntly: the tourism industry risks crushing itself under its own massive carbon footprint.

The report’s look at climate change and tourism is what Bond-Smith said is first in a series of analyses looking at climate change and the economy.

Tourism adds carbon emissions and is impacted by climate change, the report says. The tourism industry globally generates as much 8% of greenhouse gas emission, and in Hawaii tourism contributes about a quarter of energy sector emissions, the report says.

Construction cranes located in the Ward/Kakaako areas building more condominium towers.

“Destinations such as Hawaii are susceptible to strong climate impacts due to the interaction of sea level rise with coastal resort development,” the forecast says. “Climate change will affect tourism through direct and indirect means, including policy interventions, with social, ecological, and economic consequences.”

Tourism isn’t the only thing driving the economy. Government remains a big employer in Hawaii, and construction continues to boom. Inflation in Hawaii is under control, at least for now, although gasoline prices remain a risk. The labor market has also rebounded, UHERO reported.

And while bank failures and high interest rates have made it harder for people and small businesses to borrow money, Fuleky said there doesn’t appear to be a looming credit crisis similar to 2008.

While a political debate in Washington involving the U.S. federal debt ceiling has raised the specter that the U.S. could default on its debt, Fuleky said this hasn’t yet caused alarm on the credit markets. If that did start happening, he said, congressional leaders would likely do something.

“When push comes to shove, they will get their act together and move ahead,” he said.

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IMAGES

Hawaii struggles with overtourism
Effects of tourism on Hawaii by Carlos Morales on Prezi
Hawaii’s over-tourism problem may get worse than ever. Here's why
Hawaii's Overtourism Problem May Get Worse Than Ever
Hawaii’s over-tourism problem may get worse than ever. Here's why
Survey: 54% of Hawaii residents say tourism brings more benefits than

COMMENTS

Hawaii overtourism: Residents beg tourists to stop visiting amid post
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Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa found that at one point, hotels and their guests consumed around 60 percent of Hawaii's fuel and electricity. Even facing the challenges to the tourism sector during the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, hotels alone were responsible for 8.7 percent of electricity consumption on the island of Oahu.
Hawaii's 'overtourism' becomes growing debate as West Maui reopens for
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In 2018, the Hawaii Tourism Authority saw troubling signs that public sentiment toward tourism had soured. Since then, the agency has found, feelings have eroded further. ... these issues depend ...
Hawaii's overtourism may get worse than ever
It reached a boiling point in 2019, when Hawaii's 1.5 million residents watched it become a case study in over- tourism amid 10.4 million annual arrivals. Among the side effects of that ...
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Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2020. That means that Maui, which has a population of 157,000, shouldn't have more than about 52,000 visitors at a time, or one tourist for every three residents. In 2019 ...
Hawaii's Overtourism Problem May Get Worse Than Ever
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So do hotel executives, who say tourism is at risk if the stress of hosting too many people erodes Hawaii's natural and cultural resources and aloha spirit to a point that tourists don't want ...
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Once Hawaii became a U.S. state in 1959, it became a tourist hotspot during the 1960s. Although tourism is a major industry in Hawaii's economy, it comes with problems affecting their environment, economy, and residents. Tourism has caused environmental damage to the land and water sources, which has led to the ongoing water crisis in Hawaii.
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Tourism is the biggest driver of Hawaii's economy, accounting for 21 percent of jobs. Nearly 10 million people visited the state in 2018 and in 2019, guest arrivals were expected to surpass that ...
Tourists Are Solidly Back In Hawaii. And That's Keeping The Economy
The tourism industry globally generates as much 8% of greenhouse gas emission, and in Hawaii tourism contributes about a quarter of energy sector emissions, the report says.
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