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Tourist visitation outpaced resident visitation in only 10 of the top 30 points of interest statewide for both visitors and residents in September, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s interactive data tool, the Symphony Dashboards.
While tourism has undoubtedly caused pockets of strain in locations across the state at particular times, identifying the hot spots as well as what is contributing to their traffic can be complicated.
Some of the top 30 results for September listed at www.hawaii tourismauthority.org/research/symphony-dashboards were surprising. For example, the site indicated that Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki was the single most visited point of interest in the state, and that 56% of those who went to Kalakaua Avenue were Hawaii residents versus 44% who were visitors from out of state. The second most visited point of interest was Kailua town and beach, with 87% residents and 13% visitors.
The third most popular point of interest statewide was Upcountry Maui, which was also the most popular neighbor island point of interest — it was visited by 89% residents and 11% visitors.
Places in the top 30 points of interest where tourists dominated visitation in September were Maui’s Front Street in Lahaina, Whalers Village Shopping Center, Kahului Airport Car Rental Location, Kaanapali Kai Golf Course and Lahaina Market Place Shopping Center. On Oahu there were more visitors than locals at Pearl Harbor National Memorial, Fort DeRussy Beach Park, Dole Plantation and Kuhio Beach park. On Kauai, more visitors than locals visited Hanalei.
Jennifer Chun, director of tourism research at the state Department of Business, Economic, Development and Tourism, said the state contracted with Tourism Economics, a leading global travel and tourism economic analytics firm, to provide the data, which uses cellphone geolocations to determine Hawaii’s most visited points of interest.
“It’s like a giant survey that you are passively taking, but only if your cellphone location services are turned on,” Chun said. “We are one of the first states to use this for destination management.”
In addition to the top points of interest visited in the state and on each major island, Chun said the summary dashboards show key visitor metrics, market share by origin markets and a ranking of the top 10 international markets as well as the top 10 domestic markets.
John De Fries, HTA president and CEO, said in a statement, “Our Tourism Research Division continues to provide essential data and reporting that the visitor industry, key stakeholders and other businesses throughout Hawaii and around the world rely on. These new dashboards offer a wealth of valuable information on a statewide and county level, which is needed especially during this time in which HTA is stepping up its destination management efforts.”
Even greater efforts are needed, according to a group calling itself the Irritated Kanakas, which organized a “take back the beach” event Sunday at Kalapaki Bay in Nawiliwili, Kauai. They invited locals to visit Kalapaki Bay with their families and shoreline fishermen to cast poles all around the bay.
Megan Wong, a Kauai north shore resident, said Kalapaki Bay was selected as the first site of a “Sunday Fundays” program because of the perception that tourism was interfering with local use.
Sleiman “Kamal” Salibi, senior beachboy at Kauai Beach Boys, said they have had a permit for commercial use at Kalapaki Bay for 40 years come February. However, Wong said that permit doesn’t allow setting up umbrellas and chairs when they weren’t in use by paying customers.
“We are over capacity. Local people who live here need a place to enjoy as well. We don’t want to sit with someone spraying sunscreen in our face or in our water or sitting next to them with elbow-to-elbow umbrellas next to our beaches,” Wong said.
Salibi said even with Sunday’s cruise ship traffic, only about a quarter of Kalapaki Bay was dotted with umbrellas. Salibi said the kanaka gathering on Sunday was peaceful, and he has worked out the pre-setting issue with Wong, who used to babysit his children.
“I care for this beach,” Salibi said. “That’s why I work here. I’m the last one that wants to see it ruined. We are looking for the same end result. But the way to do it is at the legislative level. It’s really silly to get angry at tourists when you see all the other problems. You have to ask your politicians, ‘What is the solution to housing, what is the solution to traffic problems and infrastructure?’”
He said visitor taxes already are high, and he is concerned about proposals to increase visitor taxes even more.
“Why? Do you only want rich tourists to come here? To me, having money, especially in the United States, doesn’t automatically imply sophistication, culture or kindness,” Salibi said.
After the Kalapaki Bay event, Wong said, the group plans to gather and fly the Hawaiian flag at other spots on Kauai, where they feel locals have been pushed out.
According to the Symphony Dashboard for September, Kalapaki Beach was ninth on the top 10 points of interest on Kauai in September for visitors, drawing 2.8% of its visits from visitors. In comparison, Kauai’s top location, Hanalei, had 14.9% of its visits by visitors to Kauai.
Wong said while some might say that residents are also contributing to the hot spots, she thinks that could be because defining who is a local is complicated.
“We’ve had so many people moving here since the pandemic. To us they are still considered a tourist,” she said. “Locals I consider long term, they’ve been here 10 to 15 years. They kind of have more of an idea of what it’s like to be here.”
Kauai’s Irritated Kanakas are just the latest in a slew of community groups that are frustrated and have been pushing back as tourism and government officials attempt the often delicate process of balancing use.
To some extent, Oahu’s Ordinance 22-7 (Bill 41), which took effect Oct. 23, also fits this pattern. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and other proponents of the law, which reins in vacation rentals, have touted it as a way to take back neighborhoods.
HTA Director of Planning Caroline Anderson said during Thursday’s HTA board meeting that Ordinance 22-7 fulfilled a sub- action in the Oahu Destination Management Action Plan, which seeks to “decrease the total number of visitors to Oahu to a manageable level by controlling the number of visitor accommodations and exploring changes to land use, zoning and airport polices.”
Paul Brewbaker, principal of TZ Economics, said of Ordinance 22-7, “The City and County of Honolulu literally is using exclusionary zoning to segregate people who aren’t from here into ghettos that we call resort areas. If that sounds like a mid-20th-century trope that white communities used to keep Black people out of their neighborhoods, it’s because it is a mid-20th-century trope. It’s just bigotry. It’s tribalism.”
Oahu and Kauai aren’t the only islands with pain points that have come or are coming to a head. The Maui County Council has taken steps to rein in development or expansion of visitor lodging. Activist Kai Nishiki and other frustrated Maui residents in April 2021 undertook a similar action at Wailea Beach.
In October hundreds of Big Island residents turned out for a rally at the Waipio Valley Lookout, urging the county to ensure access to the valley and its nearby coastlines. The rally was organized by Malama i ke Kai o Waipio, which has sued the county to reopen Waipio Valley Road.
The county is now allowing residents, cultural practitioners and permitted tour companies to use the road to get into Waipio Valley. But some worry that too much access too soon will spoil the valley and that more repairs are needed before mass traffic can resume.
The Waipio Valley Ohana recently set up “kupuna checkpoints” at the top of the roadway to keep out most people. They said the valley needs more time to heal from overuse.
What’s been happening in Waipio is similar to what happened on Kauai in 2019 when Kauai north shore residents formed a human chain at Waipa, stopping tourists from entering the stretch of Kuhio Highway that forms the gateway to Ha‘ena State Park and other popular community natural resources and popular attractions.
That action was in response to the government’s decision to reopen a 2-mile stretch of Kauai’s Kuhio Highway after a lengthy flooding-related closure. The reopening restored access to the Garden Isle’s most popular tourist attractions under new tourism management guidelines. The Ha‘ena State Park Master Plan limited daily visitation to 900 people from an estimated 3,000 daily before the flooding.
HTA Chief Brand Officer Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana said during Thursday’s HTA board meeting that destination management efforts succeed in reducing wear and tear in Haena. However, HTA’s work is not done, as more tourists have been pushed into Lumahai.
Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors and Convention Bureau, said during the meeting, “To Kalani’s point, it’s working really well for Haena, but it’s pushed a lot of cars and parking to Lumahai, which unfortunately is a really dangerous beach. It’s where we had our most recent drowning.”
Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said destination management is needed, but actions must not be overly broad.
“We have an issue worrying about Japan, where traditionally the van that drives out to one of the beaches and lets out snorkelers. A lot of that stuff is not being allowed or stopped. You, as a traveler, you think, ‘I’m not welcome.’”
Vieira added that Hawaii must take care not to ask more of visitors than it is asking of itself.
“The (educational) messaging that I’ve seen primarily in Hawaii has been done very well, but at the same time you can’t have 20 homeless people at Waikiki Beach building a camp and using the beach as their bathroom,” he said. “We have to make sure that we are taking care of our own destination before we tell others that they need to do that.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
TOP 5 DESTINATIONS
Visits by residents outpaced visits by visitors in all five of the state’s top points of interest statewide for both visitors and residents in September.
Kalakaua Avenue: 56% residents | 44% visitors
Kailua town/beach
87% residents | 13% visitors
Upcountry Maui
89% residents | 11% visitors
Chinatown
92% residents | 8% visitors
Ala Moana Center
83% residents | 17% visitors
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