Christine Hitt
Earlier this month at the Travel Weekly Leadership Forum, when Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Aaron Sala said, "Tourism as we have known it is over," it surprised everyone in the room.
After my story on the forum was published on April 16, I received a few emails from people who seemed confused by what Sala meant. To be clear, Sala is not saying Hawaii tourism should end, nor did he blame visitors for its tourism issues. In fact, Sala shared a personal story at the forum that expressed how important he views tourism to the economy.
Rather, he used phrases, such as regenerative and cultural integrity, which I interpret to mean he wants tourism to strike a better balance between visitor and resident. He wants Hawaii tourism to keep the host culture in mind and not to be exploitive of it. He also wants the visitor industry to keep in mind the effect it has on residents.
These things are not particularly brand new, as we have heard and seen action take place in these respects in recent years. The former Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO John De Fries championed the Malama Hawaii program, which encouraged regenerative tourism. Under DeFries' leadership, the HTA also created Destination Action Plans, which addressed tourism hot spots and how to balance the number of visitors with respect to the environment or resident impact.
What is new, though, is Sala's direct approach, calling the problems out publicly and asking for others to engage in the change.
My take on tourism
For a long time, I have seen Hawaii tourism success judged by its numbers -- the more visitors, the better -- but when it reached an all-time high of more than 10 million visitors in 2019, resident sentiment dramatically shifted. It was clear that tourism numbers were reaching a point that affected the visitor destinations, their infrastructure and their residents. As Sala said, it feels like Hawaii is at a point that something must change.
Sala asked for everyone to look at his message as a call to action, to find ways where things can be done differently. I look at it as opening a discussion about how to manage the various tourism issues and to find new ideas.
Maybe it will mean more reservations systems or more community management of tourism destinations, like at Haena State Park. Maybe it will mean more out-of-the-box ideas to drive visitors' interest in regenerative experiences. Or maybe it will mean more ways to positively include residents in the discussion.
Whatever the outcome, Sala has successfully gotten everyone to actively think about what the future of Hawaii tourism could look like.