Tourists won’t be the only thing traveling to Hawaii this year. Sustainable tourism—the concept of preserving resources in a tourist destination—is becoming the focus of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) agenda. This week in Travel Weekly, “Aloha Reckoning,” written by columnist Tovin Lapan, adds more dimension to a place known for its sandy beaches. Hawaii has been at the forefront of the tourism industry for quite some time. Recently, debate has been sparked over whether Hawaii needs to be advertised or if the destination speaks for itself. If advertising is no longer the HTA’s top priority, then room will be available to expand sustainable tourism practices. “Aloha Reckoning” provides further insight on this issue.

One of the HTA’s primary jobs is to ensure that the state of Hawaii is being marketed in a way that will showcase all that it has to offer. As a result of criticism to the HTA, the state of Hawaii felt that the HTA needed new management and a new focus, so the HTA has recently undergone a change in several of its management roles. This change in management has caused questioning of whether marketing efforts are something that should continue to be pursued or if the HTA’s focus should be shifted to more pressing issues. Something that the new board feels very passionately about is the sustainability of the state of Hawaii and how its resources can best be preserved through tourism. Although the new HTA leaders have only been working for a short amount of time, it seems that the HTA will remain focused on marketing but also bring the issue of sustainability to the forefront of its mission.

The biggest takeaway that this article provides is that tourism encompasses more than simply promoting a destination. Tovin Lapan emphasizes this point through speaking with former vice president of marketing for the HTA, Frank Haas. “The goal, Haas suggested, is to start managing these places and issues before they reach crisis level,” Lapan writes. In other words, the HTA’s new focus on sustainability is something that is just as essential to the longevity of tourism as advertising, and as Haas says, it is an issue that needs to be focused on sooner rather than later. Having a destination that is clean, healthy, and well-preserved is part of the draw for people to visit a place, and the overall healthiness of Hawaii will ensure that tourists will be able to travel there for many years to come.

-Alli

To read the full article, see Tovin Lapan’s “Aloha Reckoning” Travel Weekly, (Feb 5, 2019).

https://www.travelweekly.com/Hawaii-Travel/Aloha-reckoning-Hawaii-tourism-crossroads