Why I Care
In our current digital age of lightning fast internet, realistic virtual reality, and a plethora of social media channels, it is becoming easier for the ability to travel across borders to be lauded as a common experience. With a couple clicks on a website, anyone could buy a ticket that can get them thousands of miles away from the comfort of their hometown. However, traveling is not as ubiquitous of an experience as we want to believe. Sure, the ability to travel is within reach for more people than ever before, but the actuality of acting upon it is limited to those who are fortunate enough to have the money, time, and access to travel that many people work a lifetime to achieve.
My uncle was in his mid-thirties the first time he was able to travel outside of his home country, the Philippines, to visit his siblings in the United States after years of saving up for it and finding a time that his work allowed; even with all of this preparation, my uncle’s wife and kids were still not able to travel with him because tickets were too expensive for all of them to join and it was a bad time for the children to be leaving school for an extended period of time without missing too much of the school year.
My uncle is just one of the many who would argue that partaking in travel is not as readily available for everyone as we think. As a result, we should all take on the responsibility of engaging beyond how tourism can serve our desires to travel and instead, considering how tourism affects the local community. When a certain site begins to attract people as a tourist destination, it creates a situation where the tourism industry alters and defines the place economically, politically, and socially. Businesses specifically catering to tourists and the rise of land prices that push residents out are both examples that showcase how tourism can influence the development of a place. After understanding the context of Hawai’i’s establishment as a state and the reality of the tourism industry in Hawai’i, it can further establish the ability of tourism to take advantage of a vulnerable site that has been sold as a tourist destination.
Why Should You Care?
As COVID-19 cases decline, countries are opening up their borders again and people are getting more excited about traveling across state and national lines. With this consideration of how tourism has impacted Hawai'i, it poses the question of how to engage in a more ethical way of traveling. Some argue that we should stop traveling to Hawai'i at all; by staying away from the archipelago, the beaches will clear up and the price of fruit will go down. However, stopping people from coming to Hawai'i is not enough to reverse the decades of history that made Hawai'i such a popular vacation site. Others will argue that it is not the tourists, but the mismanagement of the tourism industry that is the main problem. Some point to alternative tourism as a better way to visit a place.
However, others may argue that alternative tourism is not all that much better than commercial tourism, no matter how well intentioned. There is no clear answer on how to travel ethically and responsibly, but it does not mean we should not try. Hopefully, as you reflect on the knowledge you started with compared to what you have now after learning more about Hawai'i, it becomes clear how essential it is to conduct a deeper understanding of how to take part in the tourism industry that considers our effects on the environment, people, and culture of a place.
