Skift Take
In a major departure from other tourism-dependent destinations, more than 60 percent of Hawaiian residents indicated they don't want visitors back on their islands. Covid worries? Yes. But the bigger fear is a return to overtourism. Can reforms happen without crushing the economy?
When destinations around the world began closing their borders last spring, Hawaii was the first U.S. state to ask tourists to postpone their vacations. The Aloha state then became first in imposing a strictly monitored two-week quarantine on anyone choosing to venture there amid Covid. The measure didn’t halt all mainland tourists at first, but over time, in part thanks to its isolated borders, it was effective in chilling tourism and flattening the Covid curve.
Despite reopening to the mainland last October, under a pre-flight testing program that eliminated most quarantine requirements, the late restart means the tourism dependent state continues to lag in recovery, with its unemployment rate among the highest in the U.S. at more than 10 percent as of November.
But in stark contrast to other tourism-starved places eager to welcome back tourists, tourism business owners and residents in Hawaii did something you would never expect: they pushed back on welcoming visitors to the islands. That surprising stance very well may signal a turning point for one of the world’s most popular destinations, which at times in recent years has been overwhelmed by overtourism.
A recent resident sentiment survey on behalf of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, of 1,709 residents on all islands statewide, revealed that nearly two-thirds or 65 percent of Hawaiians still don't want people from outside the state to visit Hawaii.
What's at the root of this stubborn pushback a time when tourism is slow and jobs few? It’s not mainly a fear of Covid spikes — a couple of outbreaks have followed since reopening — or a fear of visitors not respecting local health protocols. It’s reforming tourism as it existed.
"[W]e’re seeing an unusual pattern," Chris Kam, president and chief operating officer for Omnitrak, which conducted the survey, told Skift. "This may indicate that overtourism concerns persist among residents. Simply rebuilding tourism to previous historic highs may not be the tourism recovery residents want to see.”
Frank Haas, president of Marketing Management, a marketing consulting firm focused on travel and hospitality and dean of hospitality at Kapi'olani Community College, agrees. "In 2019, we had about the same economic impact as going all the way back to 1989, but several million more visitors," Haas said. "So people were seeing congestion, they were seeing impacts on their lives. [I]t’s really simplistic to say there are too many tourist
