Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 5, 1 May 2021 — Reimagining Tourism for Kama'āina and Malihini [ARTICLE]

Reimagining Tourism for Kama'āina and Malihini

By Jacob Aki The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our Hawai'i in so many different ways. Yet, one of the bright spots of this past year was that we were forced to slow down, reflect and reimagine a better Hawai'i for the future. For the first time in generations, tourism in our islands eame to a complete halt. During this time, our 'āina was able rest, rejuvenate and we had the opportunity to experienee our Hawai'i in ways that we haven't been able to due to over-tourism. The ability for kama'āina to enjoy our communities without having to compete with malihini has prompted many of our government leaders and their agencies to "rethink the way we do tourism." In East Maui, Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and Rep. Lynn DeCoite have been some of the leading voices in these efforts to reimagine Hawai'i's tourism strategies. As legislators, they are all too familiar with the visitor-related concerns of their district - high traffic volume on Hāna Highway, parking issues on roadways and the detrimental impact of over-tourism on our natural resources.

In response to these concerns, they convened numerous stakeholder meetings during the pandemic to receive input from the community on the issue. As a result, they partnered with the County of Maui, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the Maui Visitors Bureau and a number of other agencies to explore various ways to better manage the high traffic flow of visitors to East Maui by implementing a reservation system at popular destination sites. As part of the first phase of this initiative, DLNR began implementing a new reservation system at Wai'ānapanapa State Park on March 1, 2021. Under this new system, all visitors and commercial operators are required to pay and make reservations to enter the park (entry and parking for Hawai'i residents continue to remain free). In its first month of operation alone, the park was able to garner over $100,000 in parking revenue, create a half-dozen jobs for loeal Hāna residents, greatly improve the visitor footprint and traffic flow into the community, while still being able to accommodate nearly 7,000 reservations (roughly 250-300 reservations per day). Lorpeople around the world, Hawai'i's main draw is its natural beauty - our parks, our beaches and our people. But

these are finite resources that must be managed properly. This "new way" of managing tourism aims to not only improve the overall visitor experience (by ensuring prized amenities like parking or reserved visit times), but more importantly, better manage the community impact of tourism for kama'āina. New systems like these are not perfect and are constant works-in-progress. But if we've learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic it's this - the status quo is unaeceptable and we must do better. By promoting our cultural values and emphasizing the protection and management of our natural resources, we ean emerge from this pandemic with a new, reimagined way of doing tourism that benefits both kama'āina and malihini. ■ Jacob Aki is the Director ofCommunicationfor the Hawai 'i State Senate. He previously ser\>ed as the Chief of Stajf to Senate Majority J. Kalani Englishfrom 201 6-2020. Jacob is active in various Native Hawaiian civic organizations such as Hale O Nā Ali 'i O Hawai 'i and the Assoc.iation of Hawaiian Civic Clubs. He isfrom Kapālama, O'ahu.