Hawaii residents want to have more control over tourism on the island, according to Anthology Research’s recent study, the findings of which were published in the Star Advertiser.
The survey was commissioned by the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center. It revealed that 52% of the respondents would opt to limit the number of tourists visiting the island, and 78% agreed that visitors should be making reservations at parks or other high-traffic areas, as well as paying entry fees.
“The big lesson here is that people want the state to be directly involved in managing tourism,” Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, told the Star Advertiser. “It’s not that there is a tremendous amount of love for the state. But I don’t think people trust the industry to manage itself, regarding a lot of ideas that seem like they have a lot of public support, including hot-spot management, increasing fees for tourists to pay for a lot of things and support for a state agency that would manage tourism.”
Forty percent of respondents are also in favor of environmental fees, or “green fees,” for natural-resource protection, and 38% said they support rental car surcharges as a way to pay for tourism impacts. Fifty-two percent of the respondents also said they are in opposition to casino gambling on the island.
The poll was conducted as an online survey, which received 700 responses between April 16 and May 3.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, Hawaii saw a record of 10 million visitors, according to the Star Advertiser.