How Do Industry Views of Tourism in Hawai‘i Compare with Residents and Visitors?

BLOG POSTS ARE PRELIMINARY MATERIALS CIRCULATED TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND CRITICAL COMMENT. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS. WHILE BLOG POSTS BENEFIT FROM ACTIVE UHERO DISCUSSION, THEY HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FORMAL ACADEMIC PEER REVIEW.

By Colin Moore, Frank Haas, and John Knox, UHERO, Sept 18, 2025

Read the full report.

Public debate about tourism in Hawai‘i is often cast in binary terms, either for or against the industry, yet the reality is far more complex. Hawai‘i’s visitor industry is shaped by the interplay of political, market, and operational forces, each reflected in the perspectives of residents, travelers, and industry executives. Understanding how these perspectives align or diverge is essential to developing governance strategies that sustain both community well-being and the state’s competitive position.

This blog post provides an overview of the findings in our larger report, Tourism in Hawai‘i: Industry Views and Stakeholder Comparisons. Drawing on confidential interviews conducted between February and June 2025 with 19 senior executives in lodging, attractions, transportation, and wholesale tour operations, this study examines industry leaders’ perspectives on Hawai‘i’s visitor economy, its competitive position, and its governance. These perspectives are presented as reported, without endorsement. Resident and visitor survey data from the HTA’s Resident Sentiment Survey and Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Survey are included to provide context, highlight points of alignment, and draw contrasts with industry perspectives.

Industry Perspectives

Executives we interviewed described a visitor industry under strain.[1] While their perspectives vary by sector, several themes emerged consistently: concerns about competitiveness, workforce shortages, infrastructure decay, the role of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), and the uncertain meaning of regenerative tourism.

Perceived Erosion of Hawai‘i’s Competitive Edge

Many industry leaders questioned whether Hawai‘i is keeping pace with rival destinations. As one lodging executive reflected, “We were always patting ourselves on the back about how great everything was, when it really wasn’t. We needed to be looking ten years out and saying ‘this is what’s working’ and ‘this is what’s not working.”

Marketing budgets were a frequent point of comparison. A lodging executive explained, “It has been a challenge to get the legislature and people to understand the importance of marketing. When you look at other tourism destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean, they outspend us four to one in marketing. I’ve never been one that said we had to match that funding, but [we had] no funding for two years, which is practically what happened after COVID.”

Concerns about the Japan market added to this sense of vulnerability. As one executive put it, “ Even if the exchange rate comes down to a more comfortable level, the market is not going to come back to the same … volume that we used to enjoy.”

Reported Labor Shortages and Workforce Challenges

Labor shortages, tied directly to housing affordability, were described as urgent. One lodging executive asked,“We can’t keep locals here. I mean, who’s going to work in our hotels? Who is going to welcome our visitors and welcome our guests?”

Another noted the outmigration of local workers:“We’re losing a lot of good, local, talented people that are making a choice to move to other destinations.” To cope, some operators have resorted to improvised solutions: “We’ve just recently converted some of our least desirable rooms to dorm rooms.”

Executives also linked tourism to inequities in development. “We’re putting up million-dollar condos, and the voice of the local says we don’t have a place to live… The inequity that continues to be put on the shoulders of tourism is a problem.”

Views of HTA and Governance

Executives were divided about HTA’s role. While interviews preceded changes to HTA made by the Governor this summer, many comments were about broader issues. One transportation executive captured the skepticism: “I read their mission statement, and it doesn’t make sense to me. What they want to do is they want to be everything for the community, but it doesn’t say that we want to be a world-class destination where we’re going to attract high spenders. How are you going to do that if you don’t have any plan?”

Others pointed to unstable funding. “They’ve got to sing for their supper every year and not know what their budget’s going to be. I mean, I don’t know how you develop any long-range marketing plans in that kind of scenario.”

Some frustrations extended to State government more broadly. A transportation executive described it this way: “What I’m saying is that the bureaucracy is very maddening—and the directors and the political leaders, they’re unbelievable! I don’t understand how they operate.”

Limited Enthusiasm but Openness Toward Regenerative Tourism

Support for regenerative tourism was cautious and often tinged with confusion. One lodging executive admitted, “They ask me: can you tell me about how you’re doing regenerative tourism at your hotel? And I’m like: Well, I don’t really know what it is… because no one’s ever talked to me [about it].”

Others worried about messaging. One lodging executive feared it might turn visitors away: “We only want you to come if you’re planning to do work for us, if you’re planning to volunteer.”

Resident Perspectives

Resident attitudes toward tourism have shifted significantly over the past two decades. As Figure 1 shows, agreement levels exceeded 70 percent in the early 2000s but declined after 2010. By spring 2024, agreement had inched back up to 56 percent—higher than in the immediate post-pandemic period, but far from the broad consensus seen two decades earlier.

Figure 1

When asked about tourism’s negative impacts, residents identify a persistent set of challenges. In 2024, 75 percent of those who thought tourism problems outweighed benefits cited higher cost of living as a problem, up from 73 percent in 2023, making it the most widely recognized tourism-related challenge. Concerns over disrespect for culture and ‘āina – an almost nonexistent concern in surveys 20 years ago and mentioned by just 22 percent in 2017 – have recently remained steady, at 69 percent across the last few  survey waves. Overcrowding, once a dominant complaint, fell from 74 percent in 2023 to 65 percent in 2024.  Yet residents continue to recognize tourism’s economic contributions: nearly 80 percent agree that tourism generates job opportunities and supports local businesses (DBEDT 2024).

This tension captures the ambivalence of many communities. Residents value the economic role of tourism but are skeptical about whether its benefits and costs are fairly distributed or its cultural and environmental impacts adequately managed.

Visitor Perspectives

Visitors continue to report high levels of satisfaction with their Hawai‘i experience. Across major markets, ratings of “excellent” have remained strong, with U.S. visitors reaching roughly 90 percent in 2024.

Cost, however, remains the dominant deterrent to return travel. Among visitors who report that they would be unlikely to return to the state, 57 percent of U.S. West visitors described Hawai‘i as “too expensive.” International visitors echo this view, with unfavorable exchange rates amplifying the perception. Concerns about crowding and commercialization persist, but they are secondary to the question of value for money (DBEDT 2024).

Awareness of stewardship initiatives remains limited. Nearly four in five visitors from the U.S. and Canada reported being unfamiliar with the Mālama Hawai‘i campaign, and only 2 percent said they had participated in give-back opportunities (DBEDT 2024; DBEDT 2025). Broader stewardship messages, however, appear to resonate more widely. Fewer than 20 percent of U.S. visitors reported being unfamiliar with general messages about caring for Hawai‘i’s culture, people, and environment (DBEDT 2024).

Interest in Hawaiian culture is meaningful—more than half of U.S. visitors say it influenced their decision to travel—but translating that interest into deeper engagement has been uneven (DBEDT 2025).

Overall, the data suggest that while Hawai‘i continues to deliver on core expectations of beauty, safety, and culture, rising costs and limited visibility of stewardship efforts present risks to long-term competitiveness.

Alignment and Divergence

Comparing perspectives reveals both shared priorities and points of tension. Residents, visitors, and executives all agree that Hawai‘i’s infrastructure needs reinvestment, that housing and labor constraints undermine both community well-being and service quality, and that Native Hawaiian culture holds a central place in Hawai‘i’s identity and should be treated with respect in tourism. All also favor reinvesting visitor revenues into visible improvements.

Differences emerge over the role of HTA, the management of visitor numbers, and the meaning of regenerative tourism. Residents lean toward limits on arrivals, while industry leaders prefer targeted site management. Executives call for stronger marketing, while residents and policymakers support HTA’s stewardship role. All groups endorse regenerative tourism in principle, but without shared definitions or practical models it risks becoming an unmet aspiration. Table 1 below distills these patterns, grouping them into areas of alignment and divergence.

Table 1. Areas of Alignment and Divergence Among Industry Leaders, Residents, and Visitors

Alignment

• Infrastructure and Resource Stewardship: All groups see infrastructure as outdated or overcrowded and support investments in site management and maintenance.
• Workforce and Housing Constraints: Shared concern that housing costs and labor shortages undermine service quality and competitiveness.
• Cultural Authenticity: Agreement that Native Hawaiian culture is central, though residents see a gap between its importance and its representation.
• Reinvestment of Visitor Revenues: Broad support for directing tourism revenues to parks, beaches, and cultural programs.

Divergence

• Role of HTA: Industry prioritizes a stronger marketing focus; residents and many policymakers emphasize destination management.
• Visitor Numbers vs. Place Management: Residents more open to limiting arrivals; industry prefers targeted site controls. Long-term decline in positive sentiment suggests concerns extend beyond sheer volume.
• Messaging vs. Tangible Change: Industry calls for stronger emphasis on benefits; residents want visible impact reductions; visitors focus on value for money.
• Regenerative Tourism: Agreement on principles but uncertainty over definitions, implementation, and visitor engagement.

Governance Implications

The findings suggest that disagreements are less about ultimate goals and more about governance. Infrastructure, housing, and cultural authenticity are widely recognized as priorities, but progress is constrained by unstable funding and fragmented authority.

A more coherent system would link marketing and stewardship within a unified strategy, expand successful site-management pilots into a statewide framework, and ensure transparency in the use of tourism revenues.

Moving from broad agreement to meaningful reform will require negotiation, experimentation, and leadership across government, industry, and communities. Recognizing both the common ground and the tradeoffs is an essential first step toward a more durable system of tourism governance. With aligned roles, resources, and accountability, Hawai‘i can move past zero-sum debates toward a robust tourism governance model that sustains communities, culture, and the visitor experience.

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References

Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. (2024). Resident Sentiment Survey – Spring 2024. State of Hawai‘i.

Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. (2024). Visitor Satisfaction and Activity Study: Annual Report. State of Hawai‘i.

Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. (2025). Visitor Satisfaction Study Quarter 1, 2025. State of Hawai‘i

[1] Please see Appendix A and B in the full report for a description of the interview methodology and the questions for the structured interviews.