How to Limit the Impacts of Tourism in Hawai'i: A Starter Guide
By David Kimo Frankel | Reading Time: 3 minutes
In January 2000, the Sierra Club sued the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority for failing to study the environmental impacts of increasing the number of tourists coming to Hawaiʻi from 7 million to 8 million annually. The legislature had dramatically increased tourism funding with the creation of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority in 1998. We lost our lawsuit based on the legal principle called “standing,” meaning the Court determined the Sierra Club didn’t have enough of a direct personal or substantial interest in the outcome of the case. But for a brief moment, we changed the conversation and made a few people think: maybe there is such a thing as too many tourists.
Photo by Sierra Club volunteer
Fast forward 20 years, and we ultimately faced a horde of 10 million tourists coming to the islands each year. By now, we are all well aware of the impacts: overcrowded beaches, clogged roads, congested trails, and absurd wait-times at our local airports. Too few real wilderness areas remain available to locals. Too many visitors strain our water supplies, energy infrastructure, landfills, and even our housing supply. And let’s not forget that the tourism industry demands fossil-fueled jet travel that propels climate change, all while not paying its fair share of the cost to host this industry here.
Today, we finally achieved the consensus that was so elusive two decades ago. Between the risk of worsening the spread of COVID-19 here to uneven treatment of workers connected to the industry, and the out-sized influence of the global investment companies that now own hotels here, it is just too much. Even the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority now concedes that there are too many tourists.
All together now, like we have been saying it for 20 years: NUFF ALREADY!
So what can we do now to both limit the number of tourists and to manage their impact?
First, follow the public money.
We need to immediately stop giving our public tax dollars to promote this commercial use of our public trust resources. This year the legislature reduced the amount of public money that goes to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, which was nice. But we need to completely stop subsidizing the tourism industry, as a whole. The hotel industry can pay for its own advertising — our natural beauty sells itself. Then we can use our tax dollars to provide better care of our state parks, to control invasive species, and to provide all manner of public services that primarily benefit residents (e.g., improved campsites, meaningful watershed restoration, and trail maintenance).
Second, limit tourist-centric development and activities.
Just stop building hotels and timeshares. No more land should be rezoned for hotels and no more permits should be authorized for any more hotels. Do not authorize any new vacation rentals or bed and breakfasts anywhere in Hawaiʻi, with a possible exception for the Big Island. The counties need to also stop authorizing developments that are clearly oriented towards those who wish to purchase second, third or fourth houses (e.g. Kakaʻako and Hokuliʻa developments). Maui is currently grappling with the options to limit tourist accommodations, and other counties should follow their lead.
If we cap the number of rental cars available on each island, we can effectively limit the number of tourists that fly here as well.
We can also impose common sense limitations on tourist-centric activities because they undermine the day-to-day quality of life for local residents. We can do simple things like prohibiting tour buses and vans from any beach park on weekends and holidays, prohibiting the presetting of beach chairs on public beaches, and reserving a percentage of entry slots to limited-access public attractions (e.g. Nā Pali coast, Hanauma Bay) for Hawaiʻi residents.
Third, increase the revenue raised from tourism.
We should increase the transient accommodation tax (TAT) to reflect the true cost of protecting our natural resources from over-use. We can require that hotels and vacation rentals include the total price (including all taxes and fees) in all advertising that they do. If we are upfront about the true cost of flying here, we think fewer people will come here on a whim. In addition, counties should significantly increase property taxes on houses that are not owner-occupied or not rented pursuant to a long-term rental agreement.