Hawaii returned to mainland visitor marketing this weekend in a very public way, not through a policy announcement or a quiet tourism board meeting, but under NFL lights in Los Angeles. The setting was intentional, and the audience was chosen just as carefully.
If you watched Sunday’s game, Rams versus Cardinals, at SoFi Stadium, you saw Hawaii officially launch a new visitor campaign called “Hawaii Stays With You.” It was the state’s first significant push in years to actively invite mainland travelers back after a long stretch defined by restraint messaging, overtourism warnings, and a deliberate pullback from the islands’ traditional destination promotion.
The shift was unmistakable. For several years, Hawaii’s public tone has leaned heavily toward caution and reflection, with visitors encouraged to rethink travel and accept the idea that fewer people might be better, even as tourism tax revenue reached record levels.
None of that recent history was even acknowledged during this launch. Instead, Hawaii reappeared smiling, cultural, and inviting as ever, as if the last few years had been an intermission rather than a fundamental change in tone.
The campaign leans hard into emotion rather than explanation. The official video, released Sunday and debuted in conjunction with the Rams game, shows quiet beaches, slow moments, personal reflections, and intimate connections rather than airports, reservations, or evolving logistics.
The accompanying campaign site frames Hawaii as a place that stays with you emotionally and calls you back over time. It emphasizes intention, presence, and connection, including a definition of kuleana as showing up with intention wherever you are.
Los Angeles was not chosen casually. It remains Hawaii’s largest visitor market of all, and one that has grown more hesitant even as airfare pricing has softened.
Tourism officials framed the launch as a reminder rather than a reversal. The message is positioned as a way to emotionally reconnect instead of acknowledging that Hawaii visitor policies and rhetoric shifted sharply in recent years.
“Hawaii Stays With You” is designed to linger. The phrase suggests memory and meaning, built on the idea that a visit leaves something behind long after travelers return home.
What the campaign does not address is that for many would-be visitors, what has stayed with them has not been nostalgia. There has remained lingering uncertainty about whether they were welcome at all.
The Rams partnership and what it signals.
The NFL debut is part of a two-year partnership between the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Los Angeles Rams valued at $3.86M. Hawaii served as the presenting sponsor of the game, with the relationship extending well beyond one Sunday into a year-long effort focused on the Los Angeles visitor market.
The partnership also included Mauicamp, the Rams’ offseason minicamp held on Maui in June 2025. That element has been positioned as a blend of sports visibility, symbolic recovery, and economic support following the fires.
From a marketing perspective, the logic is clear. If Hawaii wants attention where it matters most, there are few stages larger than the NFL, especially one tied directly to its top visitor market, Southern California.
From a policy perspective, the optics are impossible to ignore. This is not just a new campaign, but a return to mainstream visitor promotion after years of signaling that Hawaii needed fewer visitors, not more.
That return is happening without any public attempt to reconcile what was said then with what is being asked now. The absence of that acknowledgment creates tension that marketing alone cannot easily smooth over.
The budget pressure behind the smile.
Hawaii’s total tourism budget currently sits at about $63M, an amount consultants have described as insufficient to compete globally. The comparisons are uncomfortable, especially as competing destinations increase their spending to attract lucrative visitors.
Las Vegas spends roughly $460M annually, with $168M devoted to marketing alone. California’s tourism budget is about $180M, while Cancun recently boosted its marketing spend by more than 100%.
Hawaii’s renewed emphasis on mainland advertising looks less like a change in philosophy and more like its financial reality catching up. The math is difficult to ignore even as the messaging turns to warmth.
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau originally requested $10M for a statewide marketing campaign. Only $6M was approved, and that funding was redirected exclusively to Maui.
HVCB has since requested that the remaining $4M be released. That request quietly underscores how constrained the current effort remains even as expectations rise.
This new and bold effort is unfolding just as the tourism picture softens in ways that have become increasingly difficult to ignore. The timing of the campaign is anything but accidental.
Declining arrivals, selective spending.
Visitor arrivals declined throughout 2025 according to state data, while hotels reported booking drops in some of our markets. Industry voices have described both Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 as lacking any strong momentum, particularly from the U.S. West. We’d only argue that the holiday period was extremely busy throughout the state based on our own personal observations.
Spending per visitor is certainly up, but the context of that says it all. Fewer people are coming, and those who do are spending more out of necessity based on high costs. Nonetheless, visitors are traveling more cautiously with tighter plans, shorter stays, and less margin for error.
There is no visitor surge. There is caution with fewer visitors who are getting bigger credit card bills. That is the backdrop for Hawaii’s return to mainland marketing. The campaign’s warmth is genuine, and so is the economic pressure beneath it.
When marketing says welcome, and experience says plan harder.
The main problem here may not even be price. Hawaii has always been somewhat expensive, although it has gotten far worse. What has also changed is how many questions have arisen when it comes to Hawaii vacations.
Fees and taxes are up. Required reservations have multiplied. Parking has disappeared. Rules differ greatly by island, by beach, by park, and sometimes by the day or week.
Visitors are expected to plan further ahead and absorb surprises that for some only become clear after arrival. The sense of spontaneity shown in the new marketing rarely survives reality.
We have heard this repeatedly from readers, and we have documented it directly in Visitors say Hawaii is getting too complicated to enjoy. The frustration is not about aloha fading, but about Hawaii’s heavier logistics.
The campaign does not suggest that anything has been simplified or reset. It asks visitors to bring intention, patience, and trust into a system that increasingly asks for more preparation and compliance.
Memory cuts both ways.
“Hawaii Stays With You” assumes visitors carry warm memories forward and are waiting for a nudge to return. For a huge number of our visitors, that is undoubtedly true.
For others, what stayed with them was the sense that Hawaii had grown wary of their presence while at the same time relying on their spending. They remember being told to reconsider travel and reflect on the impact.
This is not an argument against sustainability or cultural protection. It is an observation about what has occurred over the past few years and what happens when messaging shifts so abruptly without any explanation.
So now, Hawaii is asking visitors back without even saying what if anything has changed.
Marketing alone will not close the gap.
The Rams partnership will generate visibility, and the campaign video may be widely viewed (it has not been thus far). The emotional framing will resonate most strongly with people who already love Hawaii and want a reason to return.
But marketing cannot resolve the contradictions that exist. Hawaii isn’t wrong to invite visitors back. The question is whether the invitation changes anything in the actual welcome, and acknowledges why so many have now hesitated.
What Hawaii visitors are being asked to believe.
Tourism officials have indicated that the “Hawaii Stays With You” campaign will expand beyond Los Angeles into other mainland markets in the coming months. The effort is expected to roll into 2026 as Hawaii looks to rebuild momentum.
The is simple on its face. Come back, feel welcome, and remember what this place has always meant to you.
Whether that works will not be decided in a stadium, on TV or in a campaign video. It will be decided instead as travelers weigh effort against reward and past memories against today’s reality.
Do you think this is enough to bring back hesitant visitors? Or has Hawaii made returning harder than this campaign suggests?
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Need a trip and get paid to visit is what im looking for
Family has lived there and made the movie water world there but there is a family that has never been just dont have the money to Go so sometimes not always places will pay visitors to come that may encourage them to go.
Well, you can certainly blame the big corporations that bought out all the hotels. For instance, Marriott, Bonvoy. They charge tourist extra expected fees for things a tourist may not even want, when they stay here. Like many big corporate machines, after Covid they got so greedy with the room rates and never reduced the rates. People can get the same a tropical experience in Mexico, the Philippines, Tahiti, Bahamas and many more tropical locations so until these big corporate machines change their ways making room rates affordable, Hawaii is not worth the money you will spend on a vacation. I’m a local artist and this affects. I need tourist coming to the island supporting my career by purchasing my art. But when the room rates and accommodations are so expensive tourists are not able to buy artwork or any fun locally made souvenirs on their vacation. They spend their money on the bare minimum necessities.
Kristina you are spot on with your comment regarding tourists buying power to support local artisans. I always visited markets and artisan/ gift shops every time we visited. Would purchase handmade jewelry, hand carved woodcrafts, paintings, handmade purses in more. Would also ship back boxes of coffee, candy, tee shirts etc. in 2023my last trip over, I purchased a couple souvenir shirts for hubs. That was it. The surprise fees and rising costs definitely impacted things
Been traveling to Hawaii, specifically Kauai annually since 1987. Much has changed & not for the better. Hotels & condos, flights, rental cars & food are very expensive & in many places service is not good. Tourists spend more & get less for their vacation $$. It’s no mystery why many will not be back, they can get more for their money at many other locations.
That commercial didn’t make me connect with Hawaii. It didn’t pull on any heart strings.
I’m appalled by the exploitive nature of HTA. HI is a known destination. It does not require a bloated budget. The frame is that it is one of the Last Best Places on Earth And must be treated so. We humans tend to love the most precious places to death!
Seriously. How does this look to California’s Charger, 49er, fan base? Only televised during Ram games. Does this mean Hawaii only welcomes Ram fans from California because of the summer camp ordeals? IMO another terrible move Hawaii.
So do you feel the same way about every advertiser during those games?
That those businesses only care about the fan base and nobody else? What about the Superbowl since that’s in CA as well this year?
That’s quite the hot take but you do you.
Paid parking at public beaches .. Sad state of affairs. I go every year I barly can afford it. But I do and this is what it has come to . Insult to injury .Many West Maui beaches . DT Flemings out side the 20 space small free lot all paid you want to hike Mahana Ridge trail Nope got to pay . , What to boby surf at Slaughter House beach parking along the road .. must pay .. Just to name a few . It is sick
I didn’t have to pay for half the lots I used in a recent visit to SF. Course there was broken glass in every lot…every single one.
Maybe try a different country like Canada. Went to Banff NP and stayed in Canmore. Lots of paid parking almost everywhere. Reservations needed to park and ride to see the most popular places.
Maybe Seattle- oh…nothing but paid parking everywhere. At least they got the Orca.
I’ve been visiting all of the Hawaiian Islands (mainly Maui) every year for 20 years. Everything has skyrocketed in price, including the room taxes. You walk into Safeway and wonder how the locals can afford groceries. They don’t have it easy either….really, we should blame the local politicians, as we should on the mainland. Interesting…..remember when you flew to Hawaii on Hawaiian or Aloha (now defunct) back in the day? Hawaiian music, staff dressed the part, and you were always served a full Hawaiian style meal plus free Mai Tai’s? Now, a soft drink and crackers if you’re lucky. Just another cattle-car experience….sad.
We shop at Costco and Target. Safeway prices are astronomical as you saw. Not quite as high as ABC stores, but still up there.
You want me? Really? I’ve heard and seen you Don’t want me. Give me a break!
Wow that top photograph is just amazing. Must have been a really cool guy who took it. Okay, I took it, back in 2018 when we still had green west Mauis.
3 words. Fiji is cheaper.
You basically said what many still feel. The welcoming warmth has been replaced with blaming visitors for many things the elected officials failed to do over many years. Our visitor dollars were either mismanaged or squandered, leaving a trail of aged public facilities in need of repair, and including roads and basic water and fire fighting capabilities, of which the last surely had an impact on the devastating fire in Lahaina. The aftermath saw finger pointing and blame towards everyone but the officials in charge of administrating the very funds generated by tourism that are so obviously needed. And here we are.
You use such gentle language to describe the message that has been directed at visitors. The message is clear. We’re not welcome. If we have the nerve to show up anyway, we’re going to be gouged with fees, hit with outrageous hotel prices that don’t include parking, and denied access to beaches and parks for periods so locals don’t have to see us possibly enjoying ourselves. The last time I went to Maui, my daughter and I saw a very confused elderly man be so aggressively harassed and threatened while hoping to see a waterfall that I felt unsafe even being in the area. The message has been received and it’s going to take more than a pretty commercial to convince people that they’re welcome.
They do the exact same with their residents. Our state government loves over taxing everyone here. To the point that we have ordinances to even pay a state tax to own and ride a bicycle, yearly car registration, & fines if we don’t microchip our animals. Although I agree with microchips for our animals. They also allow big businesses to tax us into oblivion like allowing gas and shipping companies to price gouge. We’re getting another price increase for shipping goods. It’s really due to our Representatives greed & big businesses “legal lobbying”. Our state Reps are so quick to go on the take from lobbyists that they pretty much allow them to make all the rules if they pay them enough.
Then they do the bare minimum for their residents like not bothering to continue school buses for our kids. Increasing taxes and fines for everything under the sun, because they dont care about consequences until they see less taxes because everyone is leaving or no longer visiting.
I think you are absolutely right. The lobbyist are running the show. I am so sorry this is happening to you and to this most holy and incredible island. To me, there is nowhere else on earth that even comes close to the beauty, wonder and awe of the Island of Hawaii.
Yes this. $550+ annual car registration that is under $100 on the mainland.
OMG! I had no idea it was that cheap in comparison? Hawaii is robbing us!?!?
For all the Hawaiians, in particular those who are very upset with the STRs owned by non-Hawaiians, what is your message to your state, your island and STR owners with regard to the NFL-LV deal? Were you consulted about this new tourist approach? If not then why not? If so then how will you mesh this with your current stand on tourism?
I am furious!
Hawaii has to be run by the largest group of incompetent/corrupt people in the world (this includes the governor).
Anyone with a brain could have seen their arrogant attitude towards the largest contributor to the economy was going to end like this.
Hawaii may not like that tourism is their biggest revenue driver but only the ignorant bite the hands that feeds it without an alternative. And guess what there isn’t another industry that can bring in this kind of money to the people and state.
Can we please get some competent, non-corrupt people to run this state before it’s really too late?!
You nailed it. Why would visitors come here if our supposed leaders are going to piss them off by charging more fees and making Hawaii even more unaffordable. They were already told to stay away after the Lahaina fires.
Now that less tax revenue is being collected, state leaders are in panic mode. I work in Hawaii hospitality and I saw this disaster coming years ago.
Our politicians including the the Governor are clueless. It’s going to get much worse before it gets better.
You nailed it! I wanted to stay polite in my response but how many years have we been dealing with this stupidity, right? It’s a Joke.
I’m 73 been coming since 1978. I now see Hawaii as Mexico. Go to the resort areas and stay there, don’t leave the hospitality or safety of the resorts.
No broken windows in a rental car or the cost and no putting up with locals with unemployed, entitled attitudes.
We’re unemployed because our government is greedy & corrupt. They’re so quick to be on the take from big business lobbyists & covid government funding, they were willing to shut down the entire islands for 3 years, as long as the government can continue to keep the federal funding rolling in for themselves, while most family run businesses were going bankrupt/shutting down & residents loosing their homes & life savings. The only state who was at a surplus while everyone here was losing everything they worked hard to build. Then our former governor had the nerve to do a press release stating how happy he was for our government surplus for being bribed to stay closed for multiple Years, that he gave residents a whole $150 payout for our amazing surplus that left all of us broke. Wow! 150 ?!? Sure makes up for my lost Job/life savings/401K & now left with 10’s of thousands of dollars in debt. Corruption & Government theft and wealth transfer.
Just for clarity… Maui was closed to tourism for a total of 7 months during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Basically March 20, 2020 until October 15, 2020.
Sounds like Josh Green did not get as much federal money as expected. If tourism board asked for 10 million but Was approved for 6, then it all went to Maui how does that Help Hawaii?
Which is funny because Green likes to talk so much crap about Trump and his policies then still begs for money. I don’t like either of them.
But….. How you gonna talk crap and then expect huge payouts from the same people your openly talking crap about? While refusing to turn over illegal immigrant financial aid numbers at the cost of a mass reduction of aid for their legal generational residents?
Same thing like allowing big businesses and their lobbyists to make their own rates and rules. They tax and fine us, for everything under the sun, and then be confused as to why everyone is moving off island because the majority can longer afford to live here?
We love Maui, have been coming for over 30 years. In fact, we are on island now. The atmosphere is not welcoming. The STR ban, the high prices, and especially the $25/day charges for beach parking are making it an unafordable vacation for anyone but the uber rich. This used to be such a welcoming place with a family atmosphere. It will turn into a playground for the uber rich instead, but maybe that’s what they want. It’s sad to see the place we love has turned into such a negative unwelcoming destination. It will take more than an advertising campaign to turn this around.
Where are they getting $25 for beach parking?!
This is a reminder of what Hawaii was to the visitor as a marketing campaign. It means nothing to the visitor. Once you are there is when you say, why did I come back. Hawaii used to be our happy place, easy to get there and reasonable. Yes, we stayed in 5 stars and the like. But now cost is out of control. Service has gone downhill, parks are closed or fee driven, tourist fees are unbelievable and in general the Aloha is gone. We have friends all over the Big Island asking us to come back, but they admit it’s not the same for tourist. Maybe Hawaii should reduce tourist fees to show they want tourist back. That would be some skin in the game. Aloha!
Overhyped and way overpriced. No thank you.
What a joke, $6 million directed exclusively for Maui advertising, while everybody else gets nothing.
How about showing a fun game for tourists, ‘Pin The Tail On Maui Politicians’?
It’d look great on Americas Funniest Videos.
Maui needs it more, remember the fire?
Btw, Maui is still Maui. It’s the climate, the ocean, the people. It’s also your own attitude.
Aloha Lani,
Maui does not “need it more”. Maui screamed the loudest “Get Out”! The fires had nothing to do with it. Perhaps recall the aftermath of the Great Covid Fraud to see what shaped your behaviour. I guess everyone liked it better with stimmie checks and no visitors.
Mahalo
Gerry you’re absolutely right about Covid shaping today’s behavior. We were there deciding to lock down in Maui rather than anchorage. What a mistake that was. Locals purposely taunting me in various methods to the point of pushing me at the grocery store. The rebellious nature was further exemplified by their constant friction with police enforcement of Covid policies. The locals had the best of both worlds. Free money by their stupid government and the island to themselves.
Absolute ignorance and misinformation. What we’re paid wasn’t even a quarter of what we lost. The only people at a benefit was the government. Schools, businesses, and strict curfews. Our 2nd biggest income was tourism & the only people who were at a benefit was the state government. As a single mother I had to wait 18 months for my 1st check. Then frequent switches and stops to payments from the unemployedment to pua so that the state could pocket the extra federal funding. Most of the states income is from tourism meaning a huge amount of local owned businesses were forcibly put out of business. Schools were shut down for 3 years so I was forced to leave my job because my kid was isolated for years even if my previous job was considered necessary. We didn’t receive back a quarter of what we lost or was taken. No one wanted the shut downs except the state because reps were being bribed with federal funding ro stay closed while everyone else lost everything.
This means you could have been present while having no idea what was actually going on. Hawaii was the only state at a surplus when the majority of locals were now out of work & in debt. Schools were also accepting brides by federal funding to stay closed. Then the state run tourism started an agenda campaign claiming we didn’t want tourists back because they had an agenda of continued wealth transfer from local citizens to the state. Then our crooked previous mayor did a press release saying how happy he was for the states surplus that he gave all of us a $150 rebate check. I lost my life savings, over 30 grand in my 401K, my job, and left with almost 40 grand in debt. The anger from the locals was from us being slowly robbed while being in solitary confinement to state departments could get fat on federal funding. Do you think we aren’t also being overly tax, and fined for government greed?
The state was stealing Hawaiian homeland properties and after 30 years in federal Court forced to pay out the families that they stole homes from, then the Lahaina fires coincidentally happened and the state was suddenly property rich not to long after the courts ordered hawaii to pay back the families they stole from. You think that was a coincidence?
Maui needs it more bc of Bill 9. LS clearly doesn’t want tourists. Bill 9 supporters want it both ways. They dug their own graves.
The campaign should really say: “Hawaii stays with you… and picks your pocket.” 🙂
All well and good in attracting visitors, until they realize the cost. The average family has been priced out of this vacation market.
The average generational family residents are also getting priced out of the islands. Our Reps are so corrupt that they allow big business lobbyists to price gouge us if they pay the reps enough. Then the state overly taxes & fines their residents. All while allowing the DOE to not bother to keep and maintain school bus services for our kids.
Then wonder why everyone is moving off islands when they see a huge loss of tax collections because we’re all forced to move from being priced out.
All while minimum wages stay almost the exact same. You can’t get blood from a stone
It’s true for me that “Hawaii is a place that stays with you emotionally and calls you back over time.”
The question is, the wealthy are covered where it concerns lodging, but where will the 98% stay?
STVRs are basically banned.
And yet most of the people in the nosebleed sections of a football game cannot afford more than a few nights in a hotel.
Why would anyone travel all that way for a few nights in a resort, when they actually want to experience the love, healing and wonder that the islands provide and only at the neighborhood level?
A resort is a resort practically anywhere. Lodging locally provides the emotion that true Hawaii provides.
It’s misleading at best to say that short term rentals are “basically banned” on Maui. The proposed phaseout of *half* of Maui’s vacation rentals won’t be starting for 3-4 years IF it survives the lawsuits, and this former attorney is happy to be all the can afford to lose that it’s going to be tossed in court. The Maui government is working to exempt 75% of the proposed phaseout out units as well, so in the unlikely event it survives the lawsuits, the implementation will hardly change anything. I have 2 great vacation rebrand that won’t be phased out and there are thousands of others, and always will be.
For the most part you are right. However the push to eliminate STR’s has a lot of potential tourists not booking as they are in the dark and do not want to be cancelled. We have friends who have been very affected by this unknown situation
Once again, HTA shows it has learned nothing. The alienation and vilification of visitors that support every facet of the island’s economy has slapped them back into reality.
The arrogance and ignorance they have shown may fit right in with their LA base, but the rest of the traveling public will continue to explore other options.
What stays with visitors is the overcrowding, which is the cause of negative resident sentiment, which then also stays with visitors. Of course the tourism marketing people respond with marketing; that’s all they know how to do.
You can’t market your way out of overtourism.
“None of that recent history was even acknowledged during this launch. Instead, Hawaii reappeared smiling, cultural, and inviting as ever, as if the last few years had been an intermission rather than a fundamental change in tone.
The campaign leans hard into emotion rather than explanation. ”
Of course all of the above was true. It is an advertising campaign, not a philosophical look at Hawaii’s tourism past and future.
We love HI especially Kauai. For yrs we have visited the big I sland 2 x yr until we started visiting Kauai instead. We enjoyed Mauai & Oahu but our hearts lie in Kauai. Unfortunately the Aloha has disappeared and while HI prices aren’t too much different than CA prices, if we can’t stay in smaller out of the way places, the resorts have lost their appeal. So sadly, we most likely will stay on Mainland(West Coast areas)for s
hort vacations for the forseeable future till we can’t travel anymore.
I have been to Hawaii several times (several islands). When I first started traveling there, it was different…nice , welcoming, expensive but worth the expenses…but most recently, the friendly, welcoming atmosphere is gone. Things are much more expensive and don’t match the value received. As a result, we are exploring other tropical destinations that provide what Hawaii used to deliver.
Great article. There are friendlier and cheaper places to stay other than Hawaii. Cost of staying on any island is not budget friendly anymore.
Aloha! So did someone actually realize Hawai’i is the product they have to sell? You can sell anything once if the advertising is slick enough. Now, the ball is in the court of the people, hotels, attractions, parking lots, entry times, airlines, car rentals, etc., to hold up their end with the great experiences shown in the ads. If they don’t, the next message will be pointless.
Hawaii feels like a passive aggressive relationship. We want you…. No tourists are bad. Bring your wallet but don’t crowd our beaches, roads etc. You can come if you are the kind of tourist we want…wealthy and have the time to deal with reservation systems etc. I think many of us who have a love affair w/ Hawaii are just message weary. Tired of jumping through all the hoops and found it easier to travel elsewhere and know that we are welcome.
The commercial was interesting for what it was not – not a single shot definable as Honolulu, no shots of any urban areas, no Waikiki, no resorts – or buildings, even. The only vehicles a catamaran and an ATV.
Just lush green, warm water, athletic boys and pretty hula girls.
Basically everything Southern California isn’t.
An ad campaign is not enough.. My husband has been going to Hawaii for over 30 years. We continue to cut back on activities due to increased costs. Cost of a rental car is almost prohibitve, but you need one. We do fewer things and question if they’re worth the expense. We eat out at fewer restaurants due to increased costs. I don’t feel wonderful about going anymore. And the locals increasingly don’t seem to want us there.
Too much trouble, much of the fun is gone and advertising won’t bring it back.
Hanauma bay access is too restrictive, favorite hiking trails randomly closed, government policies in Lahaina are just dumb. Taxing vacant land of the home owners at values that exceed the value of the prior home. Delayed construction permits and charging $60,000 for them.
Then blaming the housing shortage on short term rentals and visitors.
Beach facilities and restrooms on par with third world beaches.
This may be our last month long Hawaiian vacation.
Make Hawaii fun again.