As tourism rises, residents less positive

North Shore resident Kathleen Pahinui doesn’t need a survey to tell her that fewer Hawaii residents now feel the benefits of tourism outweigh the negatives.

Pahinui, who chairs the North Shore Neighborhood Board, said she hears complaints about tourism at the monthly board meetings and anywhere more than a few community residents are gathered.

“Haleiwa used to be a gathering place for North Shore locals, but we can’t even go there anymore on the weekends unless it’s before 9 a.m.,” she said. “There’s just too much traffic and it’s too much trouble. It’s changed the way everyone lives. People are even hesitant to share their favorite surf spots with friends for fear that they’ll end up on social media and the crowds will start coming.”

Pahinui said most of the complaints have to do with increased traffic, overcrowding at popular spots, higher prices for goods and housing, and damage to the environment. They closely mirror the findings of the Hawaii Tourism Authority Resident Sentiment Survey 2017, which was released Thursday and showed the percentage of Hawaii residents who feel tourism has brought more benefits than problems is at a nearly 30-year low.

Some 61 percent of the 1,600 or so Hawaii residents who participated in the survey, which was conducted by Omnitrak from Oct. 13 to Jan. 16, said they strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement, “Tourism has brought more benefits than problems.”

The measure, which is weighted by island, reflected the majority of Hawaii residents surveyed and was only a 2-percentage-point slip from the last time the survey was conducted, in the spring of 2017. Still, the percentage has dropped off sharply from the 80 percent who felt that way in 2010.

The survey, which began in 1988 and now is conducted annually, tracks key resident attitudes toward tourism over time, said Chris Kam, Omnitrak president. Kam said the latest survey was conducted when the visitor industry was well on its way to its sixth consecutive year of record visitor arrivals. History shows that residents tend to appreciate the visitor industry more during economic and visitor downturns, he said. The results also could reflect growing pains from additional residents, Kam said. The growth of social media and shared economy businesses also have lead to more “visitors appearing in places that they have not been in the past,” he said.

Kam told HTA that the keys to improving resident sentiment were ensuring residents feel that they have a voice in tourism development and that Native Hawaiian culture is presented authentically and preserved.

“Overall, to improve resident sentiment, place increased focus on destination management, beyond destination marketing,” he said.

Kam said there were decreases in the percentage of survey participants who felt “tourism should be actively encouraged on my island” and that “funds should be spent to promote tourism in Hawaii.”

HTA board member David Arakawa said the information would be used by decision makers.

Larry McElheny, a 45-year resident of Pupukea, said he hopes HTA will take Omnitrak’s suggestions to heart.

“We all get excited at the millions of dollars that tourism brings. It’s fine until residents get displaced and quality of life starts to suffer,” McElheny said. “In my opinion, we passed that threshold several years ago. We are destroying the goose that made the golden egg.”

McElheny said he’s saddened that two of his favorite surf spots, Puaena Point and Chun’s Reef, are now overrun with surf school participants.

Mike Biechler said Waialua tourism also has grown considerably since 2010, the year he encountered his first lost tourist looking for the Banzai Pipeline.

“I cracked up laughing the first time that I saw a tourist here, but it’s not funny anymore,” Biechler said. “There’s not a lot of stuff to bring tourists to Waialua, so they have to be staying here. There’s so much tourist demand that locals can’t afford to buy homes, and there aren’t many affordable rentals.”

Biechler said nearby Haleiwa also has morphed into a tourist town, where 45-minute gridlocks aren’t uncommon on the main drag.

“When everything is shifting so much, it’s just a bummer. Our auto repair shop has been replaced by a food truck, our RadioShack is now an art gallery and our local supermarket has become a Longs Drugs,” he said. “Every time I see them adding new flights, I think, ‘Who is approving this?’”