Older islanders like me learned to surf at Waikiki as keiki and spent summers surfing Queens, Pops, Threes and Publics, sharing the waves with outrigger canoes awkwardly paddled by sunburned malihini and guided by our idols, the watermen of Kuhio Beach. Those visitors spent a lot of money, got good value, received much aloha, and left a small footprint when they went home.

In the 1960s, jets made bargain-basement tourism possible. The hotel construction boom began, tidal waves of budget tourists inundated Waikiki and both have continued unabated since. Who takes small kids to Waikiki for their first surfboard ride anymore?

Tourism brought Hawaii 10 million visitors in 2019. On average, 30,000 arrived daily, adding up to nearly a quarter-million visitors on any given day, putting heavy pressure on resources, infrastructure, the environment and the quality of residents’ lives. Large portions of the much-touted money that tourism brings in is exported worldwide to corporate shareholders. Unless something is done to downsize this destructive, unsustainable tourism, the irreparable harm being done to Hawaii will only accelerate.

Aloha is stretched to the breaking point. There’s an increasing undercurrent of seething resentment against tourists, which won’t lessen when 20 million come here each year. Or 30 million. Corporations and government agencies generate pervasive advocacy of visitor industry interests, creating the illusion that it’s unthinkable to be against unbridled expansion of tourism.

Investors, capitalizing on mass tourism, have bought thousands of condominiums and houses for vacation rentals and B&Bs, making rents rise and homeownership even further out of reach, and increasing residential neighborhood traffic. In 2019, 125,000 rental cars clogged roads and highways every day; 10 million tourists polluted the ocean. In 2019 at Waikiki, Hanauma, Kailua and other beaches, posted signs warned of dangerous levels of harmful microbes resulting from the relentless hordes of visitors in the water, and hotel sewage pumped offshore from treatment plants.

The pandemic has driven home what happens when there is extreme over-dependence on one industry. But the traveler quarantine has also reminded us what life was like minus 250,000 tourists on the beaches and driving rental cars. Also, it has provided an opportunity to take bold action and change the dynamic.

Control visitor arrival numbers immediately by raising the low hotel room and rental car taxes for visitors. Rates can be increased until a lower, sustainable rate of visitor arrivals is achieved and then adjusted to maintain that level. Vacation rentals and B&Bs should be permanently banned. Revenue generated by fees and taxes can help local businesses affected by the reduced number of tourists.

Retraining and income assistance can be provided for those who lose jobs as a result of lower visitor counts. Publicly held corporations may suffer, but we owe their shareholders nothing. For too long corporations have been exploiting Hawaii while not paying for damage caused. Businesses that do harm should pick up the tab for making things pono. The visitor industry doesn’t come close to doing that.

Our shared goal should be sustainable, responsible tourism that reasonably benefits both the visitor and the people of Hawaii. We can’t continue to excuse or ignore irreparable harm because we are endlessly instructed by visitor industry advocates that we have no choice but to accept things as they are.

Officials and candidates for office must offer plans to deal with the problems created by mass tourism and for economic diversification. We can’t let the corporate-controlled visitor industry continue unchallenged, grinding away at our quality of life until there is nothing left to save of what we cherish about Hawaii.

Paul Pollitt is a sailor, former Honolulu police officer and retired airline captain; he also served as a deck officer on ships in the U.S. Military Sealift Command.