Resident sentiment in support of Hawaii tourism has edged upward but Hawaii Tourism Authority still faces challenges in convincing residents that the industry has brought the state more benefits than problems.
In the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Fall 2022 Resident Sentiment Survey, released Wednesday, 57% of participating residents rated the question “Tourism has brought more benefits than problems” as at least 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 — up from 54% in Spring 2022.
The fall results to that question were up 8 percentage points from a low of 49% in the fall of 2021, but down 23 percentage points from a 34-year high of 80% in 2010.
Among visitor industry households, 58% gave a score of 6 or above out of 10 to the statement, “Tourism has brought more benefits than problems,” compared with 55% for nonvisitor industry households.
The mean score on that question for visitor industry households was just 6.1 compared with 6 for nonvisitor industry households. But that’s better than the past spring survey when the mean score for visitor industry households was 5.9 compared with 6 for nonvisitor industry households.
“The tide is turning, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” HTA President and CEO John De Fries told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday. “I’m just glad that the erosion of confidence or dissatisfaction isn’t continuing — that there are positive indications there. But I’m just reminded about how much work lays ahead.”
De Fries said the timing of the survey, which followed the 2019 tourism boom where a record 10.4 million people visited Hawaii and the 2020 COVID- 19 tourism bust, cannot be underestimated because Hawaii residents came through a “major shock.”
“It created this dynamic that we haven’t seen before where we felt the stress on the system, on the infrastructure, on the spirit of the people to a certain degree as we ended 2019,” he said. “Then six months later in the absence of all of that visitor presence, the feeling of local people was almost euphoric … because we felt like, ‘Hey, we got no traffic, no congestion, empty beaches.’”
HTA said it recognizes that for those who disagreed that tourism has brought more benefits than problems, opportunities for improvement include: addressing issues such as overcrowding, environmental damage and level of respect for culture, tradition and aina.
The agency said the top three drivers of resident sentiment in the survey last fall were: job opportunities, support of local businesses and creation of shopping, dining and entertainment options for residents.
HTA Chief Administrative Officer Daniel Nahoopii said there has been across-the-board improvement in resident sentiment toward tourism, but added that “certain areas and people and communities have seen better progress than others have. Some of the issues are not equal across all counties and islands. There are some very difficult ingrained issues and infrastructure and such that need to be unpacked and it is going to take time to build on.”
For instance, De Fries said he didn’t know what to make of the tourism ratings from households connected to the visitor industry, but that over the next few weeks HTA would pursue more insight.
“There could be a number of contributing factors,” he said. “But I do believe that as the industry becomes stabilized, the market becomes stabilized some of that will go away.”
The Fall 2022 Resident Sentiment Survey was conducted by Omnitrak Group Inc., which was selected by DBEDT as the provider for this study. The survey was fielded from Oct. 19 through Dec. 3 . Residents in all four major counties participated in the survey by phone and online.
According to the study’s summary, “gains in sentiment in the important measures of tourism offering more benefits than problems and the impact to individuals and their families have made sufficient headway.”
Even so, it’s unclear whether such headway will be enough to persuade the state Legislature to refrain from repealing HTA, which state lawmakers created in 1998 to market Hawaii tourism as an attached agency under DBEDT.
House Bill 1375, which was introduced by Rep. Sean Quinlan (D, Waialua-Kahuku-Waiahole) and other House members, advanced Feb. 2, and has been referred to the House Committee on Water and Land. It would repeal HTA’s board and refashion the organization as a destination management agency overseen by a paid three-member commission administratively placed within DBEDT.
The bill was amended to fund the new agency through a $100 million allocation from transient accommodations tax revenue, of which $50 million would be earmarked for a matching fund program to support destination management action plan projects throughout the counties.
Two other bills, Senate Bill 1522 and House Bill 1376, would refocus the agency’s statutory mission more toward stewardship of home rather than tourism promotion, which was the main statutory requirement of 25 years ago.
Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Mililani Mauka), who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, introduced SB 1522, which would dissolve the HTA and its board, instead establishing under DBEDT an Office of Tourism and Destination Management with a goal toward regenerative tourism and best-practice destination management. As of late Wednesday afternoon, neither SB 1522 nor its companion, HB 1376, had been scheduled for a public hearing.
Discussion of the bills as well as other aspects of tourism governance are taking place from the highest seat of power to the grassroots community level, where some, like Oahu North Shore resident Choon James, say residents remain “very frustrated” about the status of tourism.
“Based on friends’ chats and social media, I think negative thoughts and the pushback against tourism are increasing,” James said. “Everyone is feeling that tourism has encroached into all the public places that used to be just for locals. Because of social media and vacation rentals, you see tourists on local beaches that you have never seen before.”
For instance, James said North Shore community residents recently had to ask the City Council to stop tour buses from coming to Kokololio Beach Park. While that step was helpful, she said smaller unmarked vehicles are still bringing tours.
Nahoopii pointed out that the survey showed efforts to manage tourism are resonating more with residents. Residents familiar with destination management action plans, which have been underway for three years now, rated tourism higher.
As many as 44% of residents surveyed gave a 6 or above rating to the statement that tourism is being better managed on their island — up from 41% in spring 2022. Some 67% gave a 6 or above rating to the statement that “tax dollars should be spent to manage impacts of tourism in my community,” up from 66% in spring 2022.
A challenge for HTA is that familiarity with destination management action plans slipped in fall 2022 to approximately 1 in 5 residents or just 21% compared with 24% in spring 2022.
Nahoopii said as awareness of the DMAPs grows, he expects residents to view tourism more favorably. “I think the study shows that the specific actions happening on each island through the DMAPs are part of the causal relationship that is helping to improve the positive resident sentiment,” he said. “Our actions specifically working in the community will be a large part of plans going forward.”
James said she’s read the HTA-initiated Oahu DMAP, but doesn’t think it goes far enough in addressing the negative impacts of tourism or determining carrying capacity. That’s one of the reasons she supports a tourism governance model that repeals HTA, and replaces it with a destination management agency.
“I think we have got to draw a line in the sand. It’s about whether we want to put our residents first … so they don’t have to compete with tourists on every front,” James said.
Top 5 Resident Complaints About Tourism Impacts*
Fall 2022 Spring 2022
Overcrowding 73% 69%
Damage to the environment 71% 67%
Higher prices, higher cost of living 70% 62%
Traffic problems 70% 62%
No respect for culture/tradition/aina 70% 55%
*According to residents saying Hawaii tourism creates more problems than benefits
Source: DBEDT Resident Sentiment Survey Report, Fall 2022
