Hawaii Spent $700K On A Visitor Program Visitors Never Heard Of

If you have never heard of Qurator, you are not alone. Hawaii spent over $700,000 building it to label “responsible” airlines, hotels, and activities. After a year, the program was quietly frozen. Yet, it is still being used publicly as proof that Hawaii is serious about sustainability.

We wrote about Qurator after it launched in June 2024, with fanfare as a cornerstone of the state’s sustainability push. Behind the scenes, however, funding dried up and the program was left in limbo. A large amount of money has already gone into the project, with more still pending, and restarting it would require steady annual funding that the state has yet to identify. For now, Qurator appears dead in the water with no clear path forward.

Most visitors have no idea this program exists, even though some of Hawaii’s most prominent names have gone through its lengthy checklist. Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Japan Airlines, the Bishop Museum, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, and a variety of other businesses and activity providers all completed the process. In total, more than 80 businesses and organizations were evaluated and certified for meeting more than 300 criteria related to the environment, culture, equity, safety, community, and guest experience.

On paper, Qurator sounded like the kind of tool visitors have been told to look for. A simple way to see which companies are “doing the right thing” and supporting Hawaii in more than name only.

In practice, it never reached the places where travelers make decisions. Not into airline booking flows. Not into activity confirmations. Not into hotel check-ins or the last-minute visitor space where choices really occur. For most travelers, it might as well have never existed.

Many in the Hawaii legislature are now openly questioning how a program that never reached ordinary travelers was ever supposed to change visitor behavior. The larger issue is clear. A statewide certification cannot have any real impact if visitors never see it, never hear about it, and never understand what it is meant to guide.

When Qurator launched, we asked whether this was greenwashing or genuine. The reaction from readers was immediate and blunt. Many said they could not take anything seriously if it came from HTA. Others saw it as another layer of virtue signaling that would never touch day-to-day visitor choices.

Several questioned how airlines burning thousands of gallons of fuel per hour could ever be labeled “responsible,” while others viewed the entire concept as a money grab wrapped in the language of sustainability. More than a few dismissed it as lipstick on a pig and predicted it would fade long before it ever meant anything to travelers.

Now, less than two years later, the program is frozen, unfunded, and still being used in metrics that claim Hawaii is moving toward responsible tourism. BOH readers were skeptical from day one. Looking at where the program stands now, it is not hard to see why.

The timing only adds to the confusion. Public materials still highlight the certification and list participating businesses, and the program continues to appear in places that present Hawaii’s progress on responsible travel. Yet the funding that keeps it alive has been on hold for months, and there is no public plan explaining what comes next or how visitors are supposed to interact with a tool they have never seen.

Eighteen months ago, Beat of Hawaii readers warned that Qurator might become another polished idea that never reaches real travelers. Looking at its frozen status today, it is hard to argue they were wrong and harder still to see how Hawaii can claim progress on responsible tourism without a plan to fix it.

Did you hear about Qurator and did it ever influence your travel choices?