Even though the economy of our state is focused on the visitor industry and even though there is something called the aloha spirit, there may be limits.
A series of state sponsored polls over the period of 1998 through 2005, as reported in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, finds an increasing trend of resentment towards a tourism-based focus at the expense of residents. In fact, in 2005, for the first time since the poll began, the percentage of respondents who answered yes to the question "This island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people." was in the majority at 55 percent.
With the visitor count last year at a record seven million, our islands may be hitting the upper limit of capacity. This is not the same as saying residents don't like visitors. Rather, according to the article, as the survey question suggests, it is a referendum on decisions made by the legislature and their (i.e., legislators) perceived lack of concern with the effects of so many visitors on infrastructure and quality of life of residents.
Perhaps partly in response to this growing discontent, the visitor industry itself has been trying to target fewer, but more affluent tourists in the hope of keeping revenues constant, but with fewer people. It is unclear how successful this effort has been but the alternative of increasing the number of visitors may make things even worse.
Aloha!
