Limiting number of tourists to help environment

[Sharlee]

Gotcha. I appologize if I offended anyone.

When life gives you lemons....trade them for chocolate!

[missydog1]

I hear the "locals mess up the environment with rusted out cars, etc." an awful lot whenever the issue of visitor respect for Hawai`i comes up, used to take the pressure off tourists. I don't think the two issues belong in the same discussion. They are apples and oranges and the existence of one problem doesn't in any way mitigate the other.

Most importantly, it is not right to say that locals don't have respect for the land because they follow generational patterns for disposing of large items that are expensive to dispose of. They can and do love and respect the land even with a car rusting in the back yard. It is our culture that makes a rusted car into a big deal, our bias.

I've heard this argument made on Maui travel forums as justification for why tourists shouldn't feel bad about trampling and trashing a formerly pristiine reserve. A tourist is always going to be a guest on the land, and should be respectful.

Educating people about keeping their own fee land clear of rubbish is a completely different project, not unimportant, but completely unrelated, because the mindsets are coming from very different places.

[mgeary]

Two wrongs do not make a right, that's fer sure. Just because the locals throw large items into the jungle to rust does not make it right for tourists to trample and trash a formerly pristine reserve. But at least you've indicated a specific problem, one that can be dealt with.

Fines for litterers who are caught, regardless of where they live, raising fees on park visitors to cover the cost of cleanup (not to $10,000 per visit, but a reasonable fee which has some relationship to the actual costs of cleanup divided by the number of visitors), these are specific answers to the problem of trash and littering.

Other problems with tourists and tourism can and should be dealt with the same way. That's my point here on this thread. If tourists get drunk and tear up a bar, there's a way to deal with that. If tourists create traffic problems, there's probably a way to deal with that, too. I'm not saying I know how to solve these problems, but I know there are solutions. To throw out a blanket limit on the number of tourists a) isn't practical or realistic and b) won't solve the problems created by the 7.5 million annual tourists who get here first.

How do I know?

[oink]

I think limiting tourism is very realistic and should be planned for in advance for the BI. It should be limited by controlling available accommodations. The County should be deciding now, how many tourist rental units the BI should eventually have, and zone accordingly. Rentals, by the night or week, in residential areas, could be restricted to ohanas where the owner resides on the property, thusly helping to control the monopolizing of residential units by off island investors. I think the BI does need to plan for a maximum tourist load, but I don’t think it’s close to that point. Oahu should have addressed the issue many years ago. Maui needs to do it now.

As for the trashing of the aina by tourists: Yes, more effort needs to be placed on educating them. However, a certain amount of litter etc. should be expected as part of the tourist business. Sufficient fees should be included in the bed tax etc. to finance a very proficient, professional and continual cleanup program. While it would not be considered the most desirable of employment by some, it would be regular honorable employment and could be considered an entry level position to other county employment.

Tourism is a sustainable industry. A construction industry based on a perceived perpetual building boom is not. Hawaii will always depend on tourism. All residents need to be educated to respect tourism, understanding that their employment, likely whatever it is, is in the end dependent on it. Hopefully, a true aloha will survive. Regardless, as a practical business matter, understanding the overall importance of the tourism, all residents should at least put on an aloha face for the tourists. I understand that doing so may be difficult for residents that do not feel that they benefit from tourism. They need to be educated to understand that they do, or if they don’t benefit from it, the industry needs to be developed in such a manner so that they do.

I appreciate Rob’s efforts to be involved in the community. I wish I could claim that I fulfilled my civic duty as well. I can brag that my wife does more than her share in the community we currently live in. I plan to also become more involved in my community in the coming years. I also hope that if that community is Puna, which is my plan, that my efforts will be appreciated and that my contributions will not contain too many undesirable mainland attitudes.

End rant for the week (month?).


Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[Bullwinkle]

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/arti...ocal02.txt

well could this:

be the beginning of a reduction of tourism - hoa hasn't displayed that many superior management skills as yet ...

or a play to consolidate the resorts prior to the advent of gambling in Hawai?

[missydog1]

quote:

---

All residents need to be educated to respect tourism, understanding that their employment, likely whatever it is, is in the end dependent on it. Hopefully, a true aloha will survive. Regardless, as a practical business matter, understanding the overall importance of the tourism, all residents should at least put on an aloha face for the tourists.

---

well, I respectuflly completely disagree that there should ever be a requirement for anyone to put on any kind of face that they don't feel in their heart, unless they are being directly paid to do so -- meaning they signed up for the job.

Frankly, I hate visiting places where people pretend to like me and welcome me, for the sake of my dollars. I am thankful not to live in a place that's so phony.

The tourist industry doesn't even pay its workers a living wage.
It doesn't pay me anything.
My immediate neighbors all work in other industries.
Hawai`i had an economy not driven by tourism up until the advent of trans-Pacific flights, and the neighbor islands weren't tourist driven until what, the late 70's? 80's? There are a couple of generations perhaps who can remember a different economy.

Hawai`i has to remain diverse if it's to offer anything to visitors besides fun in the sun, golf, fishing, and diving.

I hate going to places that "used to be" about something that is now defunct, and all that's left is the people selling souvenirs commemorating the past. Lahaina is a good example of a place with an amazing colorful history that is now a mass of T-shirt vendors.

Do we want people to come see the place where "they used to fish, they used to raise cattle, they used to grow sugar cane, they used to grow pineapples, they used to grow taro... which it is all too close to at present, or a place where you come see people at work in living industries and ways of life, other than working as hostesses, maids, bellhops, valet parkers, etc..

Seriously, I have yet to see a museum dedicated to explicating the way of life of the hotel and restaurant workers. (not that they don't do important jobs)

[oink]

Sadly, or not, big agriculture is gone. I do remember when pineapple and sugar were king. My ex-wife had worked part time in the pineapple cannery, her mother in the fields and her father at a dairy. I lived behind the then productive Lahaina sugar mill. Not enough people continued wanting to work in the Ag. jobs. Those jobs were hard work and not the best of pay. On the mainland, why do you think the illigal immigrants so readily find such employment? Because no one else wants to do it. With the large agriculture industry out of the picture, what large industry do you propose for Hawaii. A larger military presence? Other than the sea, what natural resource can be exploited. Do you wish to compete with India for outsourced tech jobs? At what they get paid? Tourism is Hawaii's natural resource. There is no reason to be ashamed of it. If people understand tourism's importance, there is no reason for them not to have aloha for the Island's guests. If you follow most of the jobs back far enough, I believe you will find that if they don't support tourism directly, they will support those that work in the industry. Who buys the cars? Tourism employees, etc.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[missydog1]

I know the past is gone and new ways have to be found.
But I stand by my own life observations that tourism as the primary industry of an area sucks the lifeblood out of it.

I remember when Taos was an amazing place. I lived there in the late 60's and returned in the 70's from time to time, then again in 1990 when it had started to shift but still had some soul. Went back there in 2000 and the character of the place was GONE. I felt ill.

I've been reading about visiting China the last month. There will be a "quaint" town known for something special (actually a city of over 5 million), but then I'll read that this city is overrun by tourists and spoiled for tourists who want quaint so now there is the "next" village that is just beginning to attract tourists. If you go there now you can almost have an authentic experience, if you hurry, but the tour operators have already discovered the "next" place, so independent travelers have to find the next next place in order to escape the tourist throngs.

There has to be authentic life beyond tourism. Arts, science, medicine, education, industry, publishing, computing, real estate (non vacation rental), astronomy, fishing, at least some agriculture, horticulture, construction, services aimed at residents, performing arts for the community and so forth. It cannot all be a performance for those who are paying the admission fee, or it is empty. Tourism is fine to an extent, but what is the niche of the Big Island? The non-touristy island. People like it because they can come and feel like they are outside of the tourist envelope.

Sorry, there is NOTHING about my income that derives from tourism. Or my neighbors. They work for a company that exports Hawai`i grown plants to the mainland, which is not a gift shop, but a wholesaler. I agree that tourism money feeds a lot of businesses indirectly, but it's too wide a generalization to say we ALL feed off it.

[David M]

Not to worry - given enough time and "success", the unions will kill off the tourist industry just as effectively as they did sugar and pineapple-then we can advance to the next thing.

David

Ninole Resident

[rusty h]

Aloha to all in Puna:

My wife and I are heading to the Puna area on Wednesday the 23rd, coming from frozen Alaska. I plan on seeing our lot in Nanawale and chilling, swimming, seeing the sights that I haven seen since I first came in 1978 as a 19 year old student. (back then you could go to a college in Hawaii and not pay out of state tutition if you lived in Alaska).

I plan going to the farmers market, eating out, staying in the B&B's spending around $500.00 in your area and meeting locals doing what the locals do as we plan on living there in 5 years. I wonder how we will be treated? After all we are tourist[].

When I do come for good I hope to give to the community, Im a youth counselor and wrestling/football coach. Coaching and counseling the youth of Hawaii would be sweet. Living with the Hawaiians in harmony like I do with Alaskan Natives would be a dream come true.

Wish us luck!

Peace to all,
Rusty