President Donald Trump’s edicts to slash the federal budget, gut government agencies and eliminate programs promoting diversity, equality and inclusion also could hit efforts by Hawaii’s visitor industry and other businesses to expand Hawaiian and cultural awareness opportunities for residents and visitors.
The Hawaiian language is used on neighborhood street signs, hotel names and signage, and even on some bank ATM menus. It also is heard in the bilingual messaging that plays in state airports, which receive federal funding.
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, the state’s tourism agency, published its strategic plan in both English and Hawaiian, and currently uses Hawaiian in its committee names and on its agendas. The agency also supports the use of Hawaiian in marketing done by contractors such as the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Aaron J. Sala, HVCB president and chief executive officer, said destination stewardship should provide a way for visitors to enhance their stay by engaging with the native language from the moment they arrive at the airport and hear recorded announcements in Hawaiian to their stays in Waikiki, where they are offered cultural activities such as lei making, lauhala weaving and hula lessons.
He said the practitioners who teach these classes in hotels, shopping centers and other venues are genealogically linked to the language, and there is “a concerted effort to ensure that visitors are seeing the language and hearing the language and speaking the language in their own way.”
HTA, which is HVCB’s largest source of contract funding, operates mainly on state appropriations. However, it did receive federal American Rescue Plan Act funds during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been working on spending federal grant money from the Economic Development Administration.
HTA Chief Stewardship Officer Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana said he is not concerned about any immediate effects from Trump administration policies on HTA’s commitment to the Hawaiian language, as it mimics the state’s focus.
“I’m not worried, it’s the language of this land,” Ka‘ana‘ana said.
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He explained that the Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 added Hawaiian as an official language to the Hawaii State Constitution, and Hawaii Revised Statues Chapter 321C, includes Hawaiian in addressing the language-access needs of those with limited English proficiency.
The law says its purpose is to “ensure meaningful access to services, programs, and activities offered by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government, including departments, offices, commissions, boards, or other agencies, and all covered entities.”
