Aloha.
Hawaii, gorgeous 50th state, onetime monarchy, has always been in a real pickle when it comes to tourism. On one hand, visiting hordes are the islands’ lifeblood. On the other, visiting hordes really mess the place up. Tourist impact has long been viewed through the simple lens of money in coffers but, for the first time in history, the tourism authority is now majority native Hawaiians and things are going to drastically change.
According to a report in Bloomberg the new plan “relies heavily on community involvement and visitor education.”
“In the past, visitors were spoon-fed what outsiders thought they wanted,” Kainoa Horcajo, founder of the Mo’olelo Group, a Maui-based consultancy that helps hotels to reimagine their cultural experiences told the financial paper. “Now, it’s time to take a risk, challenge the visitor, and give them something real.”
Alterations include:
-Needing a reservation to visit most popular places like Maui’s Wai’anapanapa State Park or Oahu’s Hanauma Bay.
-Hefty ticket prices to hike trails etc.
-A “crash course” on how to be a “good tourist” with required educational videos and staged productions.
-A “conservation fee” to be paid on arrival.
-An encouragement to “give back.”
“In the past, tourism fed into the stories marketing executives thought White people wanted to hear,” Clifford Nae’ole, cultural adviser for the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, and former president of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association told Bloomberg. “Hawaiian food was pineapple pizza and spam; a luau was just about girls dancing in grass skirts. Now, chefs are proudly incorporating native Hawaiian ingredients such as ulu, or breadfruit, into dishes, and luaus have become historical lessons about the Polynesian migration to Hawaii just as much as they are entertainment.”
Spam musubi is, honestly, one of my favorite foods on earth but I suppose I’ll see it go for the good of Hawaii.
No word on how surfing will be affected by the changes.
Lest we forget, the “Hawaiians” are colonizing visitors too – they certainly did not evolve there out of the primordial soup. The only confusion is whether they originated from the other beautiful tropical islands in the pacific, or simply paddled their canoes over from mexico.
or….Wait until they find out JERRY Lopez is half chinese and half puerto rican..lol
Yea he posted more shit the next day under a different name saying how the investigator person was right about everything he said and it was some Eastern European name.
Pretty creepy that they would post on BG
Money grab plain and simple. Instead of hospitality industries it’s a coalition of some people claiming they’re making these changes for the good of everyone. It’ll enrich a few and the commodification of Hawaiian culture will continue.
Best thing that could happen is the kamaaina steal a loose nudke from Pearl Harbor, light it off on the Big Iskand, cause the landslide that would kick up the Super Tsunami that sweeps Waikiki of all of it and takes it back down to palm groves and lagoons
You want the good Hawaii?
Dig this:
http://www.benmarcusrules.c…
Next time you are in Hawaii, take a look at the flag.
It’s obviously the British and yes the underclass would be better taken care of, the British culture and government system is much more compassionate towards those who are disadvantaged than America’s culture of sociopathic capitalism.
They sure treated the slaves in their colonies well….
Britain abolished slavery in 1833
yea so what’s your point?
LGR asked me a question about present day Hawaii, and i answered it. What’s your point?
Sounds like a lot of tax…i.e. extortion…money going to create make work jobs.
2 questions here at this point:
1. How is Eddie Rothman at very least not a consultant to the tourism authority?
2. How has the tourism authority not joined with Chas in mass-distribution of Welcome to Paradise, Now go to Hell for tourists at all commercial jet landing locations there?
How does this law impact on Zuck and the other cunts buying up land? My guess is not at all. As a repeat, and respectful traveler to the islands, I’m kinda annoyed I won’t get to go back.
Da Kitchen R.I.P. My goto was the Kalbi over pan fried noodles.
And, if Bill 041 passes it will make illegal to rent accommodations on Oahu outside of specific resort zones (Waikiki, Turtle Bay, etc.) for under 180 days. This alone is going to change some things.
Bill 41 might finally force the primarily offshore extractive tourism vacation profiteers to stop operating illegally in residential neighborhoods. The previous 30 day requirement was being laughed at by owner/operators and they employed various contractual and wink/wink illegal workarounds forcing the State to go to 180 days minimum with strict oversight. Those greedy owner/landlord fucks – and their complicit tourist clients – did it to themselves. This isn’t about Aunty tutu trying to make a few legal bucks renting her spare rooms out, it’s about the rich offshore elite who have made huge real estate investments in Hawaii believing that they could sit back and watch the Airbnb, VRBO etc etc illegal income roll in without paying Hawaii taxes and pulling their profits offshore. The only people bitching about this on the north shore are the Brazzo vacation cleaning chicks who fly under the tax radar too.
But the new 180 day restriction is a bit problematic. It will need some tweaks to accommodate locals and some others traveling short term inter-isle and legitimate business travelers etc. The way the bill sits now is that for everyone, there will be no more month to month rentals and minimum rental contracts will now be 6 months. This is great relief for long-suffering locals too in that greedy Hawaii landlord/owners can’t raise the rent every 45 days and/or evict a tenant with a 45 day notice without any reason
Don’t get me started Gorilla.
What is really coming down is Heidi Tsuneyoshi’s Bill 34 that passed the full council and is now set to go into effect and be enforced. The bill bans all commercial activities at O’ahu north shore beach parks with the exception of professional filming, from Sunset Point to Kaiaka Point.
This includes all commercial surf schools, tour buses, beach kayak operators, kite sailor/surfing schools, wedding planners, SUP excursions, yoga murfer instructors, chihuahua surfing trainers, roadside coffee shacks etc etc.
At the 2 hearings held on the bill, the usual bevy of seamy operators – some long established – testified against the bill, acting like it was their god-given right to appropriate public parks and surf spots and exclude access and parking by local taxpayers and the general public.
In sending out notice to surf schools, Tsuneyoshi pointed out that the permits previously given to surf schools by the Department of Parks and Recreation allowed only one permit per instructor, but in practice had been one permit per surf school who disregarded the permit rules and employed dozens of “instructors” for each single allowed permit. Many feel that the “professional filming” exemption is too broad and commercial entities, like the WSL, will attempt a reach-around to gain access.
Trouble with these laws is that they don’t go far enough. These commercial operators will just drop their tailgate at other beaches and parks that aren’t included in the bill’s jurisdictions further spreading their cancer everywhere.
It’s really simple. Hawaii is not some free-for-all tourist pile-on for commercial profiteers using our public beaches, parks, trails and natural resources.
And fuck you if anyone believes otherwise.
Brah, try coming to Kona it’s out of control!
Is that why they always wanted payment via PayPal or Venmo? Some nasty lady from New Jersey wanted 1000 bucks from us because there was some sand in her carpet and we ran up her AC. She threatened a lawsuit but our response was “oh no. We’d have to go back to Maui!” Also we told her we’d report her for asking for payment outside of VRBO.
Hey Dreads that sounds bogus. The good thing about Airbnb & VRBO is they third party control everything. All their conditions and terms cover just about any dispute. Seems like some private greedy owner was trying to gamble and bluff that a visitor will pay up for a frivolous claim. Tell her to go fuck herself. Most all of those agreements have cleaning and deposit conditions and everything should be mediated by the booking company anyway.
That sounds something like what rental car companies were doing here for years up until recently. Tourists would leave their rental car at the airport and jump on a plane for home only to have an agent call them falsely claiming the car was damaged. Not being able to go back and dispute the fake charge, the rental car agencies would then proceed to put damages on the booking credit card.
Require surfers to ride equipment made in Hawaii. Goodbye Wavestorms, goodbye firewire…
Is a Jerry Lopez Wavestrom considered to be equipment made by a Hawaiian..
last time I went my “conservation fee” was a hammer size rail ding, somehow all the way through the double wrapped board bag…. lols, though, it’s all good, I had fun anyway, who doesn’t in bathtub temp water ?
💎 Top Fan
Hopefully, the Hawaiian tourist agency will mandate re-education for all visiting surfers, and charge them to surf here. A special per-wave surcharge should be applied for every wave surfed during a WSL event.
“something real” sounds scary please bring back the make believe.
The real question is will Pipe and Sunset actually happen? North. Shore has tons of covid cases at moment and Omicron will be most likely peaking in a month.
A “conservation fee” to be paid on arrival. Looks like we are finally paying for that Lei and the labor to put it on our necks.
Who wants to take my crash course on how to be a good tourist?
Step 1. Don’t be a dick
Ok class is complete, enjoy your stay.
Spam musubi that’s been on the hot rack rollers at the Waialae 7-11 for three days? Fuck that.