Three year tourism management plan developed by Hawaii Tourism Authority
By Erin Coogan
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HONOLULU (KITV) — As tourists once again flock to the state, many believe there’s a need to address concerns about their impacts on Hawaii’s natural resources and visitor destinations.
The Hawaii tourism Authority has developed a three year action plan to reduce the impacts of vacationing on the island. In working with multiple state agencies they hope to provide the solutions to a variety of community concerns.
A record breaking 10.4 million visitors traveled to Oahu, prior to the pandemic. Now after a year of quiet, the HTA has developed a destination management plant to restore and rebuild what they describe as “sustainable tourism”.
“We’re talking about making sure that we are attracting the right type of traveler here,” says Caroline Anderson of the HTA board.
Proposed actions within the plan extend through multiple state agencies. This with the hopes that collaboration will allow for the addressing of multiple state agencies.
It’s an effort some resident say should have been implemented long ago.
“Everything is really crowded,” said one Kaneohe resident who asked to remain anonymous. ” There is very little control. Even access to all of public land it’s just things get trashed, and things close, and resident don’t even have access to places in their backyard.”
But with more than 16% of Hawaii’s Gross Domestic Income coming from the tourism industry, members of the HTA say they hope the plan will better the resident-tourist relationship, while improving the economy.
The plan includes 10 overall actions and 43 sub-actions to be pursued within the upcoming 3 years. Among the actions the plan recommends, controlling the number of visitor accommodations and exploring changes to land use, zoning, and airport policies.
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