Ready for this? Launching Hawaii regenerative tourism.
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134 thoughts on “Are You The Tourist Hawaii Wants? New Study.”
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Ready for this? Launching Hawaii regenerative tourism.
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We work hard at a job supporting literacy. Not only do we have to work a full time job but in our off time we have to raise our own support. We save all credit card points for airline and hotel until we have enough with some money to come. That is the only way we can afford it. When I am on vacation, I need a vacation – not to work. I don’t believe Hawaiians will want to come to my state and be forced to work either especially if they are paying $300 for a hotel and it takes a full day to get there and a full day of vacation to get back. I love Hawaii. When I come I am well behaved and treat the people and the land well. I too wonder how many of them are volunteering. Overseeing millions volunteering will be expensive and a bureaucratic nig
I would love to volunteer with the tortoises at the cave reserve.
Yes, would like to participate!
It’s a good idea lots of travellers try to work to fund their travels
Let me get this right the average cost of an airline ticket to Hawaii is over $1000 a rental car is almost $1000 a week and the average room is around $400 a night not including food or anything else.
Hawaii is a tourist destination. If you want me to spend a ton of money coming to the island then don’t expect me to also work it’s a vacation.
I will certainly do my part to keep the place clean and be environmentally conscious but I sure as heck won’t spend a day of my vacation working in a taro field.
If this is what Hawaii expects visitors to do then I will gladly take my dollars somewhere else.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves, if it is so noble to work in a Taro field, then how about working at the local sewer treatment facility? Wouldn’t this be more noble?
Or maybe it would be more noble to work at the local county jail, then you could have proper regenerative tourists “give back” and be an example to others that still need help working on their skill sets.
You get the point.
Bottom line…beware of university professors bearing social experiments in the form of reports.
Spot on Mark!
I’m in. Glad to be of help if I can.
Aloha!
I loved reading this article as I totally relate to it. My husband and I have had the honor of visiting your extraordinary island for several years now, and on our last visit, we volunteered for a beach clean up in Anahola. It was a lot of hard work, but we were really happy to do it. In fact, from now on it will be on our itinerary to help somewhere on island as much as we can. Next year, we’re looking at helping with the Honu program in Poipu. I didn’t know about the taro fields or planting trees, etc. and wonder if other programs are available. I’d really like to know if any links, etc. to learn more.
Mahalo!
Hi Erika.
We hope other people will share their own experiences. Thanks.
Aloha.
I would be in, publish options. Well be there for 14 days in Jan thxs
I have had the blessing of over the last 10+ years of volunteering while on vacation and certain times just come to work with Kauai Christian fellowship!
It doesn’t seem like work, when you were investing in the lives of those who work so hard to keep the island so beautiful, for us to enjoy when we travel there! Believe me, giving back only enhances my time and brings me a joy beyond the physical beauty of Kauai!
I have a friend that actually does that when we go overseas. He’ll go work a rando village of the hotel worker for a day to live like them and offer his hospitality. Then they feed him and whatnot
It’s pretty hilarious and awesome, because will be partying all day and he’ll come back all beat up from a hard day’s work.
He’s definitely Mr. Aloha, and doesn’t stuff like that without thinking and we gotta stop him so he doesn’t get taken advantage of.
Interesting thought. My family and I have been coming to Hawaii for years. We live it there! Our goal is to always leave the beach, ocean, trail, etc. better than we found it. If we see trash in the ocean, we pick it up, etc. On our most recent trip, we picked up Covid masks off the ocean floor! No one is talking about their impact on the environment!
However, vacations to Hawaii are far too expensive to spend a day working in a field! Sorry. To expect tourists to go work in fields, etc. its not going to happen. I know many people that go to South/Central America to work in less developed countries like this–a service mission. Sorry…Hawaii is in a very different place economically than these countries. This will never fly! Mahalo!
Planting taro and trees … How many locals have ever done that? Too many are too busy giving tourists the stinkeye, forcing me off the sidewalk, deliberating trying to back into me in the parking lot and then laughing about it, cursing at me because we happened to stay in a small, family owned resort that now blocks their view of the ocean. Not to mention the cold shoulder when I attempt conversation. These incidents have all happened to me personally, even though I’ve always shown the greatest respect for people and culture, and their land. I do not present myself as any entitled tourist.
I’m done apologizing for coming there. I’m afraid I have seen the last of my Havaii Nei.
Best regards.
Jane, it’s a shame that those things have happened to you. I feel the same when it comes to the entitled nonsense that I have read on here. I will never work on a vacation and if that means never going back to Hawaii, then so be it! Enough people get driven off by this nonsense, they will suffer from the old adage: “You don’t know what you have until you lose it”!
Thank you, Ed.D.
You are most welcome Jane.
That’s terrific you and your family want to volunteer for a good cause. No one is going to disagree with any study that says that picking up trash is a good idea. The issue is requiring people to do it just for the privilege of being here to deposit large sums of money to the local economy. That’s big government on steroids. Again, educate, encourage and incentivize the end result you want.
I’ll keep coming – over 60 visits in my lifetime – be respectful of everyone and enjoy the Aloha Spirit. I won’t be working in a Taro field. Sorry, not my idea of a vacation. I’m also not going to insist that tourists who visit Chicago where I live pick up trash or chase gang members who are shooting up the neighborhoods.
I go on vacation to relax not work in a taro field. Residents can not survive without tourist dollars and should not expect me to spend thousands of dollars to come and work. Tourists are already taxed beyond measure so residents need to decide, take my dollars or find a different way to survive. Maybe get a job working taro fields?
Taro farming is just for show. There is no money in it. The production costs on Hawaii are way too high (just like they no longer farm sugar cane or pineapple) to compete. There was a “start-up” outfit in Hanalei that amounted to a couple of people to “locally source” taro to Kauai. Not sure if that business survived?
Top 5 Taro producing countries:
worldatlas.com/articles/top-taro-producing-countries-in-the-world.html
Unfortunately the Kauai that I knew for my whole life is gone. In the past my uncle’s and aunties 20 30 years ago we’re always inviting always happy to see us but now tourists seem like the enemy. It’s 2022 and I’ve spent my last time to be here for a month in July and I’ll do it again if I can next year. I hope that the people of the island get back to Spirit of ohana but it doesn’t really matter because I’ll be coming here every year or as much as I can for the rest of my life.
I think lawsuits will be coming
More and more, I believe the “type of tourist” Hawaii wants is someone with very deep pockets who unloads them at every opportunity. My wife and I have owned a timeshare for decades on Kauai. Our idea of a Hawaii vacation is to buy local foods and prepare them ourselves, hike, visit cultural resources, snorkel, and relax around the pool or on the beach.
Hawaii is rapidly pricing itself out of business. Outrageous hotel rates with hidden fees, rental car companies demanding over $100/day for a compact, restaurants charging far too much for mediocre food, and locals making stink eye (and apparently not understanding that, without tourism, Hawaiians wouldn’t eat). Hawaii can’t have it both ways.
Agree, to stay at the Hyatt on Maui – the Sr. rate is $900 a night, which includes a view of the West Maui Mountains, (not an ocean view) PLUS the $40 “just cause” resort fees, then add the 17.42% tax.. No way.. people don’t get that if rental condo’s go away, very few will come, but they’re all living free, so they don’t care.. they’re not working any fields!
I believe regenerative tourism ” is a great idea. However, I doubt they will make a difference when it comes to “climate change”. How will it’s effectiveness be tracked? What exactly is expected from a tourist to do? Shouldn’t we worry more about how our Government in Hawaii is polluting our islands? I live in North Shore (Oahu). There is no sewer system, and Yes, this is the USA! We are no better than a “Banana Republic”, with it’s wastewater disposal into our ocean! The EPA should fine Oahu. I would like to know how many tons of sewage Hawaii dumps into our ocean on a yearly basis? If Hawaii is serious about our Environment and Climate Change, lets do something about the gov. dumping waste into our oceans!
Although I understand the “vacation” reluctance, we own a condo on Maui and I volunteer every time that I am there. Being retired, I have more time and I volunteer with Maui Cultural lands and Kipuka Olowalu, both of which are wonderful organizations. Over the years that I have been doing this, many visitors have joined us and often feel it is the highlight of their trip. I highly recommend that everyone volunteer a few hours, as the rewards are immense. Both of these are run by native Hawaiians and the cultural experience is very worthwhile!!
Hi Rich, I must be one of the Few People who listened to John Kerry’s speech, interview, recently. If you had you wouldn’t have bothered mentioning tiki torches. Seems that the “Climate Change Scientists” have decided that Co2 was never the Offender that they Claimed. They have now chosen to abandon That in Favor of Eliminating Methane! This should help you sleep better at night. Methane, so Everything that Decays is now a Target. Maybe in 2 decades it will be Radon. I get the feeling that the Lies will keep on coming.
Ernie, just to be clear, you can hear or read into anything you want about climate change and god knows it’s been politicized and used by cable news to enhance viewership…..but the simple fact is the overwhelming majority of scientists who could care less about politics and have spent their lives studying the actual data are pretty much unanimous that global warming is a very serious and immediate problem. It may not effect you much but it certainly is important to the next generation.
Yeah Johnw, the Oceans will rise 1/10th of an inch over the next 100 Years. Prove different?
Ed, it appears you think something as complex as environmental science can be debated in a couple paragraphs and settled? Might explain why you believe Internet “facts” over the work of unbiased experts with way more experience and education in the field then you or I. There’s a lot of people making money out there by spreading misinformation on the Internet as well as big money that resists anything that could effect their bottom line. I go with the experts over the special interest folks on this. Don’t know about you but I have kids whose future I care deeply about.
Hey JohnW, I go with the experts as well and there are just as many “experts” that say Climate change is a hoax! So you keep believing your “experts” and I will keep believing mine. The same goes for you, my point of view can not be explained away, or discounted, any more than yours can. This debate will last forever. You know like: What came first, the Chicken, or the Egg? Have a great rest of your day JohnW!
climate.nasa.gov/faq/17/do-scientists-agree-on-climate-change/
Here you get Ed, if you want to listen to the 3% that’s your choice. But your choices are your legacy.
3 percent? Not hardly. I suppose that you believed Al Gore when he said the world was going to end due to global warming back in the 80’s. Here we are in 2022 and we are all still here. He supposedly was parroting the “experts” even then. But again, here we are!
Kerry and Gore travel around the world in their luxury jets while the rest of us are fighting just to survive.
Ed, you didn’t read my link, it was NASA stating that 97% of published climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change. So not my opinion, just putting out what NASA says.
NASA is a space agency, not exactly the end all when it comes to global warming. Also the 97% of “published climate scientists” is not 97% of “all” scientists. Is the climate changing? No doubt! Has climate changed since the beginning of time? Yes! Will climate continue to change until the end of time? Yes! Has human existence caused climate change? We might have contributed some but it still would have changed anyway.
You listed to a John Kerry speech?? Why not just hit yourself in the forehead over and over with a hammer? Would be over sooner, and not hurt as much.
That’s it Ernie! Now you’ve done it! You told the truth about the “climate change Pushers” and now you will probably end up on their list! Keep up the good work!
Do you have a reference for this assertion?
Where do I begin?
I am 78 years old with a wife who is also 78. We have owned a timeshare and enjoyed its benefits for over forty years.
Before there was even a word for it, we and our young children picked up trash as we climbed up to the top of Diamondhead.
Do I want to do that or anything close to that? NO!
Furthermore, my son and his children in their correspondigly early fifties and late twenties, would probably have a similar opinion.
A vacation is a vacation not simply a change in work venue.
Hawaii has over the years benefited from tourism. If current social and political trends aim to destroy that I feel it is only end in a very tragic state of fairs for Hawaiians and tourists alike!
FWIW, what I just posted did in fact show more responses while it was in “waiting for moderation” mode….. seems to be an intermittent issue.
Hi John.
Thanks. Yes, we made some changes this week for faster performance, and this seems to be a related issue.
ALoha.
Working now!
Hi John.
Thanks so much for your help with this. It’s a long story, but technology is great when it works. Leave it at that.
Aloha.
Thanks for fixing it so fast.
Just saw an email that shows a post by Pat that describes the same thing I am experiencing. Large numbers of responses are not showing up when the story is opened.
Can’t see if anyone took my attempt at humor on this one seriously!
I think it is a great idea. My wife and I have been to Maui 4 times and we took our sons to the Big Island last year. We would love to give back by cleaning beaches or such. Really what is one day out of a 2 week vacation. Great opportunity to connect with locals, I love the idea of helping keep Hawaii beautiful and Hawaiian!
Another solution looking for a problem. Mandated work details would be impossible to implement and enforce. It will do nothing to eliminate crowding and congestion. How about using carrots instead of always dreaming up new sticks to beat tourists with? Why not put equal intellectual horsepower towards ways to incentivize tourist behaviors through financial and community benefits (free transit rides, restaurant discounts, rebates, cultural awareness and education, etc.). Stop trying to punish the many for the sins of the few. Catch the offenders and make them clean up the beaches.
I agree with you 100% Randy! How about fining our gov. for disposing 53 Million Gallons of Wastewater into our Ocean ona daily basis? Our Gov and Military facilities should be used to help eliminate waste and Pollution. Instead of blamimg tourists and expecting them to take care of our problems, Let’s start with our Government! Maybe we need to charge tourists a “waste tax”? Everything else is taxed, why not waste?
To BOH:
I think all of the ads displaying in your site might be screwing up the display of your comments, at least on IOS. It says there are 58 comments right now, but I only see 3-10, even when I select the “older comments” link. Can you fix this?
Thanks!
Hi Pat.
Thanks! We will check.
Aloha.
PatG and BOH,
I noticed this issue earlier as well, but thought it may have something to do with the browser I was using on my phone (ABP). But in accessing your website via a Mac Mini using Firefox, I noticed the same behaviour. The first page would list a number of comments and indicate older comments existed so when I clicked on the older comments link, the next page only had a small number of comments (3 – 5) but that page also had the older comments link as well. Clicking on that older comments link took me back to the first page of the article and I saw the Leave a Comment link (as if no comments had been posted). Does that help?
Hi Warren.
Thank you too. We appreciate you guys all jumping in to help. We believe the problem has been fixed. It resulted from a performance upgrade we did. As we said, technology is wonderful, but only when it is. ugg.
Aloha.
BOH,
All seems to be back to normal in this thread – mahalo for the updates!
Hello BOH, I have printed a few comments but none of them are showing. Am I in “time out”, or something like it?
Hi Ed.
There is a technical issue with comments at the moment that we will resolve as quickly as possible.
Aloha.
As a frequent visitor to Kauai, I have noticed that far less is done to change to electric vehicles both for rentals and island residents when compared to Honolulu. Perhaps this is an area where Kauai could improve?
Totally unrelated, how good for the environment are all the tiki torches burning away every night? Is there a carbon neutral fuel that could be used for those?
I live in BI and I enjoy travelling to the mainland. If there was a network I could join to travel and work to learn about other climates and regional regenerative efforts I would be very interested. Obviously, I don’t expect to be doing anything back breaking or dangerous, however, some tree planting or stream restoration would be an excellent way to meet like minded folks. Accommodation should be appropriate to my comfort level and cleanliness.
I prefer to stay in small mountain towns. I can only sit by the pool for so long and hiking doesn’t always appeal. I would be happy to help out with local projects just to learn. A system of guest ratings similar to AIRBNB so project leaders can award me with good stars.
Why not?
There is nothing wrong with Eco-tourism per se. But it should be the choice of the tourist not a dictate of the government. If the business has a business model that works with an interested clientele, it will thrive. If not, it is a type of authoritarian social scoring or marxism.
Social Scoring System – definition:
“The social credit system is an extension of the risk assessment credit rating systems that were introduced in China in the 1980s. Proponents argue that it will help eliminate problems such as food safety issues, intellectual property theft, violation of labor law, financial infidelity, and counterfeit goods.”
…or in this case travel only by the right kind of “regenerative” people.
Mark P, I am totally surprised that there is anyone that would be okay with this nonsense. But yet, here we are, there are several on here that would go along with it. What’s next? If they are creating a program for volunteers, that is one thing. But if they attempt to make it mandatory, that is a totally different issue. It will never fly legally!
Here’s something we agree on Ed! Just gave you a thumbs up. I don’t see any possible rational that could justify making it a mandate. Seems ludicrous to me and I have to question if we are making much ado about nothing. Perhaps the proposal is to simply make eco tourism more attractive and a viable option, that’s great, but forcing it on people is absurd and self defeating to the need to get everyone appreciative of the importance of taking care of the planet. It would just divide us further and hurt the economy that provides the resources needed for supporting the environment.
Glad to see we agree on that. As I said above, I can not believe that anyone would view this as a positive proposal. Unless of course, it is voluntary. Oh well, it takes all kinds of people to make a World.
I might do a project where I would go to a part of Hawaii to work, but want to get paid for it. On a vacation, which is what I’ve always done on Kauai or Maui, is to relax and retreat from the work I do. Having to plant trees or taro would keep me from visiting Hawaii. It is getting very expensive to visit the islands and to think I might have to work for free–No way! Lots of other tropical places to go. Thank. you for making me aware of this.
Great idea! I can see the highways now, littered with tourists in bright orange vests and a pokey stick with a garbage bag picking up trash. Maybe a big “Welcome to Kauai” sign on the back? Perhaps special walkers for the senior citizens with built in aloha print trash holders? They would have to figure out how to handle the rebellious kids that might think that somehow this is not a great vacation though, maybe make them watch a video on the flight over? One problem could be everyone would want to go to Kauai because of all the fun there and the other islands tourism may suffer. So definitely they would have to do it on all the islands! Hawaii could be a model for tourism all over the world!
Just to clarify my attempt at humor. To be clear I am strongly in favor of the idea that ecotourism is important and hopefully a wave of the future. I just don’t think it can be mandated and creating a system that makes one type of tourist “better” then another is a slippery slope. The State should incentivise and reward the introduction and operation of ecotourism and leave it at that.
Funny that this should be suggested. Would I want this to be a condition of travel, no! However, in January we stayed on a mango/vanilla farm on BI. Our host has great pride in his farm, and as a master gardener, I had a glorious time. As he worked a 2nd job, I helped weed out the vanilla orchids and learned to pollinate them. This was my choice, not a requirement. I enjoyed it, he was surprised and thrilled I helped. We happened to mesh, but I wouldn’t want it to be required for visitation. An inexperienced person could do a lot of harm if not babysat.
Interesting concept. I wouldn’t mind doing some volunteer work while visiting Kauai as long as I get to make the choice of what and when. I may want to spend a day helping clean up a beach or volunteering at the Humane Society (we adopted two dogs from Kauai, so we have an emotional connection), just as long as it is my choice. Being mandated to do it, however, would be off putting and leave a sour taste. Kauai is our go to island, we have visited it many times and have always been treated well and with aloha. Sadly, if I was required to work I’m exchange for visiting we may think twice. As always thanks for the great article and keeping us informed about all things Hawaii.
Hi Paul.
Thanks. We appreciate your input on this interesting study.
Aloha.
I suppose taxpayers paid for this ridiculous study. A one week visit is pricey for a family of four with airline tickets, rental car, hotel or vacation rental. Activities such as luaus, tubing, zip lining, boat tours, horseback riding, beach rental gear, restaurants, hiking Waimea Canyon and Ha’eana state parks support the economy and leave little time for working in the taro fields.
We give enough back with the exorbitant amount of money we pay to vacation in Hawaii. No thanks.
I think it’s a fantastic idea! And needed! Especially for Hawai’i. We will be vacationing in Florida next spring and will be volunteering some of our time at a farm there on one of the days there. We will be doing this as a family on any vacation now.
So let’s see if I have this correct. As a visitor, the State of Hawaii charges me taxes on:
– airfare
– car rental
– lodging/accomodations
– certain activities
– certain locations
– ???
Now they want me to agree to do stoop labor or whatever other “approved work” the collective decides is in vogue.
No thank you.
I prefer to personally decide what to do with my time and resources. If that is by driving a go-cart, taking a boat trip using only wind or bio-diesel, etc., that is my choice and not someone from UH or Hawaii central planning department.
Thank you BOH for sharing this enlightening article. Hawaii seems to love mandating it’s tourists but to be fair, the Kauai government (and now some citizens) are taking it to a strange new level. I think they might understand if one more mandate were added to their plan (for the sake of fairness). Every forced volunteer action of a tourist visiting Kauai will be equally reciprocated by a resident of Kauai. They will be mandated to take a holiday in that tourists city of residence and do equal volunteer work, ie an LA tourist will require a Kauai resident to vacation there and then spend a decent number of hours under the freeways, clearing a homeless encampment of human waste and trash and feeding and clothing our needy.
I suggest that all visitors sign up for at least one day of beach clean up. It is an exercise in giving back.
MJ, I suggest that you sign up twice. Once for you and once for me.