I would like to commend the West Hawaii Today for relegating the article “Don’t hate on tourists” to the fifth page of the April 26 edition. That is exactly where it belongs, on a back page.
It’s ironic that the Hawaii Tourism Authority and their surrogates would have to actually think that a campaign like this as necessary unless, of course, they thought it was necessary and thus admitting to the fact that tourism is a problem for “locals.”
Even better is the use of the word “locals” to describe the target group. The use of the term local, in my opinion, is code for those who identify themselves as Native Hawaiian and thus race based. Should we consider that someone who has recently transplanted themselves from somewhere in Asia, Europe, the US or anywhere outside of Hawaii as locals? If so, if we are all locals then the article indirectly includes everyone in Hawaii and we all need to be reminded of the benefits.
Obviously, Alan Wong is not local because he and his family business do not need to be reminded of the benefits, only the locals need be reminded. I agree that we should not “hate on the tourists” but there is a lot of reason to hate on tourism. Tourism being the business that derives a profit by promoting an unrestricted influx of transients who visit Hawaii for their own personal pleasure and who leave nothing of value behind except the money that goes to the tourism industry.
The health and well-being of Hawaii’s residents should not be measured solely on jobs as this effort by HTA would have you believe. The tourist industry is a modern day version of the plantations. It relies on lower paid, unskilled immigrant workers to sustain the profit margins that largely go to businesses from out of state, owners of the hotels, airlines, tour companies and other accommodations that tourists avail themselves of.
During his term as Mayor of Honolulu, Jeremy Harris commissioned a study that revealed that tourism actually costs taxpayers money. How you say? In order to fulfill its manpower requirements, i.e., lots of bodies at low cost, the tourism industry relies on an immigrant workforce. It is these bodies that drive up the cost of housing/living and clog up the roads because these folks don’t leave.
As I recall it takes roughly three people to look after the needs of one tourist per day. We all end up paying our fair share of higher taxes to support that added permanent population. Not to mention the toll it takes on the environment. If tourism is so great, then why can’t most of us afford to buy a home on the wages that a job in the tourist industry provides? Why can’t we take care of our homeless? Why are our state agencies so underfunded? Why are our ocean and land resources so depleted?
Yes, I may have a “tendency to start complaining” but really I can’t bring myself to profess the unrequited benefits of tourism, as distinguished from tourists. If the government and businesses truly see themselves as locals or representing the locals then this local’s advice would be to take a realistic and measured look at the price tourism is truly extracting from our citizens and levy an appropriate charge that can be equitably shared by all.
Charles Young is a resident of Honaunau
