Local Response to tourism

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Besides the effects of tourism, an important group that needs to be heard from in regard to how tourism affects them, are the local populations of Hawai’i.

Haunani-Kay Trask was one of the prominent voices of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement, a political and cultural campaign that advocates for the establishment of Hawai'i as an independent nation or kingdom, and she described the influence of tourism on Hawai’i as a “prostitution of Hawaiian culture”. Trask argued that the fantasy of Hawai’i as a place of magical allure and free from rawness and violence was a product of western objectification (1999).

Trask uses the hula dance to exemplify how Hawaiian culture has been transformed to suit the idea of Hawaiian paradise in order to appease tourists. Hawaiian dance, especially hula kahiko as called in its ancient form, has been one of the most celebrated Polynesian art forms taught by dance masters and appreciated at formal competitions. However, the hula popularized on screen and at resorts showcase hula dancers in costumes that mix different Polynesian cultures and require them to act salacious and wear heavier makeup (Trask, 1999). The catering of a cultural dance towards the tourist perspective highlights how powerful the tourism industry has become in which it is able to transform a cultural attribute into a product that no longer reflects the reality of where it came from

Considering both the positive and negative impacts of tourism on Hawai'i, the local response to tourism is rather mixed. In the 2021 report of the Hawaii Tourism Authority's Resident Sentiment Survey, it revealed that while 75% of Hawai'i residents statewide believe that tourism is worth the issues associated with the industry, 68% believe that the island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people. In regard to overall tourism management efforts, the survey revealed that the most pressing issues residents want to see addressed is the education of visitors and residents to respect the islands and each other, eliminate illegal vacation rentals, and to charge visitor access fees to state parks and trails.

These mixed sentiments in regard to tourism’s impact on Hawai'i reveal that Hawaiian residents are aware of the tourism industry’s influence on the economy and their way of life and points to the greater concern Hawaiian locals have in regard to the mismanagement of the tourism industry.