Lee Cataluna: Talk Of Reducing Tourism Is Still Just Talk – Honolulu Civil Beat

We’re committed to subscription-free content, but the reality is less than 2% of Civil Beat readers are donors. If you value our work, please consider becoming a supporter — we need your help to raise $100,000 by September 1.
Over the past 13 days we have raised $77,000 from 1,810 donors. Mahalo!
Donate
We’re committed to subscription-free content, but the reality is less than 2% of Civil Beat readers are donors. If you value our work, please consider becoming a supporter — we need your help to raise $100,000 by September 1.
Over the past 13 days we have raised $77,000 from 1,810 donors. Mahalo!
Donate
Commentary
Despite the many problems the massive summer surge of tourism has brought to Hawaii, plans to manage the tourism industry lack seriousness and urgency.
By Lee Cataluna
August 11, 2021 · 5 min read
Lee Cataluna
Lee Cataluna is a columnist for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at lcataluna@civilbeat.org
For decades, the state and the visitor industry have seduced would-be tourists to buy plane tickets to Hawaii, book hotel rooms in the islands and spend money in local shops, restaurants and touristy activities. At times, that self-marketing has had a whiff of desperation when arrival numbers were down and other vacation destinations were trending.
In all that time, the image used to market Hawaii never matched the reality of Hawaii.  Instead of the grunge and jangle of Nimitz Highway that greets tourists as they head out from the airport, it’s always empty beaches, magical (and totally safe) waterfalls, scenic hikes on lonely (totally safe) trails.
Well, it worked. They bought it. That’s the image that everyone has of Hawaii. Add to that the carefully curated social media images of cliff-diving, seal-harassing and boozy beach bonfires and we have the current mess. They’re all here, standing in line for breakfast, breaking their ankles on hikes, taking over favorite beaches. Groups that used to hop on a party bus to Cancun are now sleeping on the floor in a Kihei condo or packed into a vacation rental in some formerly quiet neighborhood, and they are having a post-COVID-19 celebration even though we are, clearly, not post-COVID.
So now the Hawaii Tourism Authority is going to work to decrease the number of visitors coming to Hawaii.
Good luck with that.
The problem with any serious discussion of limiting the number of tourists is that it would mean some businesses don’t get to maximize their potential profit. Nobody, not a hotel chain or a tiny retail store, not the owner of a $8 million vacation rental or the person who subleases a room in their rental apartment through Airbnb, is going to agree to make less money, even if the good of the islands is at stake.
The other problem is pretending that there is any sort of control to be had over the current flood of tourists, especially if the action items being proposed include unserious things like increased interpretive signage and encouraging enforcement of current laws.
At least Hawaii is finally returning to using the word “tourists” instead of the more deferential and obsequious “visitors” or “guests.” That signals a more realistic view of the current situation.
These hordes were not invited. They showed up because the airlines were happy to sell them seats. At current numbers, the crowds that are streaming off the airplanes and packing local beaches are a couple of clicks closer to invaders. They’re not customers but consumers intent on experiencing their own definition of a good time.
A recent survey from the University of Hawaii Manoa Public Policy Center found that more than half of Hawaii residents queried want fewer visitors to the islands. Fifty-two percent of the 700 respondents “prefer limiting the number of visitors, with even stronger support among neighbor island and Native Hawaiian residents.”
Also significant in the findings, residents, by a 2-to-1 margin, said the state should control or regulate tourism more than other businesses, and support for regulating vacation rentals outside resort areas was almost 75%.
Hawaii residents are beyond frustrated.
Stories abound about the toll all these vacationers are taking on residents who are just as weary of the pandemic and also trying to re-establish a more normal life. Too many in these crowds did not come to Hawaii to follow rules, not after the tedious pandemic rules of the last 18 months. They can’t be counted on to respect customs. Respecting customs has become, sadly, political, and there is a large swath of America that defines American culture as not only the dominant, but the only legitimate one. They’re not here to plant a koa seedling or clean a beach, but to bust loose and have themselves a good old time after all those months of being masked, locked down and frustrated.
The talk of limiting the number of tourists likely will be all talk. What Hawaii is experiencing right now is a bubble born from post-pandemic factors. It’ll calm down in a while. The trouble is that every time there’s a boom, the capacity grows and stretches to accommodate the bloated number of tourists. Then, when the bubble bursts, the impact is greater because there are that many more hotels, tourist-dependent small businesses and micro-economies that have been built upon the swollen tourism numbers. Then the frenzied “come to Hawaii” marketing cranks up again.
Which is tragic, really, because so many of the problems Hawaii faces – from environmental degradation to overburdened agriculture and traffic and housing and a hopelessly undiversified economy —  are directly tied to the inability to right-size tourism.
Civil Beat is a small nonprofit newsroom, and we’re committed to a paywall-free website and subscription-free content because we believe in journalism as a public service. That’s why donations from readers like you are essential to our continued existence.
Help keep our journalism free for all readers by becoming a monthly member of Civil Beat today.
Lee Cataluna
Lee Cataluna is a columnist for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at lcataluna@civilbeat.org
Read more
There are lots of comments blindly blaming short term rentals for the influx of visitors, but I haven’t seen a single statistic in any of them. So, here are some stats:According to the HTA, through June 2021 (the latest data available) only 13% of visitors stayed in B&Bs or rental houses. 81% of visitors stayed in hotels, condos or timeshares. And these figures haven’t changed since pre-pandemic levels.So, are STRs part of the problem? Yes. But they’re a small portion of the problem. Hotel occupancy rates are still in the 70% range, so STRs could cease to exist and there would be enough inventory to support an increase in tourism.The HTA’s plan to “manage tourism” calls for increased regulation of STRs, but no additional taxes on lodging that would really decrease tourism. This seems to be a rather transparent effort to boost hotel profits – profits which go to mainland or foreign companies – not a true effort to make things better in the islands.So, beat the anti-STR drum if you like, but know that you’re simply being used, just as locals have been for decades in the past, as a tool to increase profits for out-of-state firms.
FutureNihon · 4 hours ago
We could just leave it to developers to cover the islands including the mountain tops with concrete so people don’t want to come. State doesn’t mind making money that way too. 
surferx808 · 4 hours ago
As usual, Ms. Cataluna is right on the money.  Literally, since that’s what this tourism mess is all about.  But I do believe there is something that needs to be added.  In order to accomplish any meaningful change will require strong, dedicated, focused leadership.  And not just from the city and state.  From business leaders, too.  Our “leaders” have not led, they’ve followed (the money, mostly).  We’ve been grossly let down time and again because we’re lied to about our “leaders'” intentions.  Ultimately, we the people are the real leaders, with our ballots and our wallets.  Until we demand change and refuse to accept anything less, we will continue to moan and wail while Hawaii sinks ever further into environmental, political, and social decline.
Stuart · 4 hours ago
IDEAS is the place you’ll find essays, analysis and opinion on every aspect of life and public affairs in Hawaii. We want to showcase smart ideas about the future of Hawaii, from the state’s sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea.
Get the Civil Beat App.
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
Copyright © 2010-2020 Honolulu Civil Beat Inc. All rights reserved. Civil Beat ® is a registered trademark of Honolulu Civil Beat Inc.
You’re officially signed up for our daily newsletter, the Morning Beat. A confirmation email will arrive shortly.
In the meantime, we have other newsletters that you might enjoy. Check the boxes for emails you’d like to receive.
Inbox overcrowded? Don’t worry, you can unsubscribe
or update your preferences at any time.

source