Lee Cataluna: Hawaii tourism has spun out of control

Not long ago, a story about 10 million people descending on a small group of islands would read like dystopian fiction. Now, it’s just the latest HTA visitor numbers that confirm what everybody knows: Hawaii is overrun with tourism.

Are we allowed to grumble yet, or are we still supposed to pretend like this is a good thing?

The counter argument to any sort of negative comment about 10 million visitors a year is that tourism is the buzzing, chugging, airplane-exhaust-belching engine that fuels our economy. This is spoken like a religious mantra, like a statement that can’t be challenged. Tourism provides jobs. It provides taxes. We can’t have our Hawaii without it.

We can’t have our Hawaii with it, either.

Look around at the roads and beaches and now in our own neighborhoods. Tourism costs Hawaii more than it brings in.

There is the actual cost of dealing with all those bodies, the ocean rescues and helicopter searches in remote trails but also the immeasurable but immense cost to natural resources, open spaces and the quiet island lifestyle that is slipping away.

Tourists are everywhere, taking selfies from the mountains behind our homes, weaving on bikes or motorized clown cars down busy roadways, creating long lines in the check-out lanes at neighborhood groceries. Neighbors in Maunawili have yet to see any reprieve from the constant chaos of the unchecked hikers blithely marching past warning signs to see the waterfall.

There are entire communities taken over by vacation rentals. One couple who lives in Kapahulu tells the story of fighting with a bicycle tour company that has included a stop at their carefully cultivated garden as part of a paid tour but never bothered to ask the homeowners if it was OK. Tourists wanting an “authentic” experience are now encroaching on residents’ private lives.

As for this great economic engine, who is thriving in Hawaii? Too many families are working multiple jobs and still struggling every month. Too many people are living two- and -three families to a house because rent is so expensive and buying a home is out of reach.

The streets and parks and underpasses are full of homeless people. Somebody is making a ton of money off the 10 million visitors but it’s not spreading around the community like a tide lifting all boats. Many people are treading water to survive.

When a situation becomes so oversized, everything on the island must be adjusted to accommodate the burden of that mass. All over Hawaii are signs of that strain and contortion.

Now that we’ve hit 10 million tourists a year, anything less than 10 million in subsequent years will be viewed as a downturn or a slump or a failure that must be addressed with taxpayer dollars. Can you imagine 12 million visitors? Fifteen million? Maybe once the islands are all parking lots and shopping meccas, polluted beaches and ruined views, tourists will stop coming to Hawaii in such great swarms and local families can have it back.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.