Kaua’i Releases New Regenerative Tourism Plan

Kaua’i has always been an independent kingdom in the Hawaiian Islands.

While the state of Hawaii actively markets and monitors performance in the visitor industry on all islands, the individual counties (Kaua’i and Ni’ihau, Kaua’i counties) plan and plan manage their own Goal management goals with the support of the state-wide association of the visitor industry, the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

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Kaua’i County recently released its Target Management Action Plan (DMAP) through 2023 to preserve the island’s natural beauty and rural aesthetics while ensuring that the benefits of the visitor industry ultimately outweigh the resources they consume.

HTA provides the broad framework for each county to design its own plan. Objectives include attracting and educating responsible visitors, finding regenerative solutions to overtourism, and managing natural and cultural assets for the benefit of Hawaiian residents and visitors.

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What is noteworthy here is the discussion of “regenerative tourism” rather than “sustainable tourism”. The growth of sustainable tourism has focused on reducing the impact of tourism on a destination, while regenerative tourism is a view of sustainable tourism that also takes into account the net benefits of tourism. not only with the aim of causing less damage, but also to restore the damage already caused by unsustainable practices.

To the Kaua’iThis means addressing the adverse environmental impact of the destination’s significant tourism growth. Weaknesses include visitors’ reliance on individual rental cars for transportation, which impacts traffic for local residents, overcrowding and overuse of popular beaches and state parks, and high housing costs for residential units (often illegal) converted for use by visitors were.

The goal of the Kaua’i DMAP is to rebuild, redefine, and reset the direction of tourism over the next three years. The first goal of the plan is to make positive contributions to the quality of life of Kaua’i residents.

In addition to marketing the destination to visitors, the Hawai’i Tourism Authority markets the visitor industry to Hawaiian residents and actively tracks residents’ moods in the visitor industry. In general, the goal is a visitor industry that is highly supportive of and understands the positive impact tourism has on local residents, which creates more positive outcomes for both local residents and visitors.

In 2019, Kaua’i visitors generally rated their visits to the island “excellent,” but cited affordability and transportation as their main drawbacks. Kaua’i residents believed that visitors were responsible for the traffic and showed little respect for the island’s country and culture, which ultimately led to a slight decline in the positive mood among the visitor industry.

In the first ten months of 2020, visitor traffic to Kaua’i decreased by almost three quarters. By the third quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate in Kaua’i County was 16.7 percent, compared to just 2.7 percent in the same period in 2019. Hotel occupancy was a healthy 72.6 percent through October 2019, but reached the same rate In the period of 2020 just 36 percent.

Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai (Photo by Lauren Breedlove)

Some of the measures in the plan address and support activities and communication between local and state tourism actors. However, several measures are suggested that will impact the visitor experience as the county works to address some of the vulnerabilities faced by residents and visitors, including:

– Exploring usage fee models to offset maintenance costs on beaches and state parks

– Creation of more information signs at cultural sites, hiking areas and beaches to improve safety and the visitor experience

– Train tour operators and boat companies to prevent ocean and reef pollution

– Ask visitors who plan to hike or camp during the visit for a better inspection of equipment at the airport

– Supporting awareness and education about appropriate behavior towards the endangered species of the island

– Find ways to incorporate more Hawaiian cultural practices into the visitor experience through local festivals, resort activities and cultural programs, and connecting Hawaiian cultural organizations with the visitor industry

– Continue strict enforcement of illegal temporary vacation rentals

– Request a zoning review and approval to manage future visitor accommodation

– Pilot a reservation system to control the flow of visitors to certain high-traffic attractions such as the north coast

PHOTO: Lumahai Beach, Kauai, Hawaii. (Photo via ejs9 / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Another point was the traffic situation, which the district would like to address by promoting alternative transport options for visitors. Options could include shuttle services between the airport and popular vacation areas, as well as decoupling parking costs from resort fees to help visitors better understand the total cost of each rental car during their stay. Another option is to implement paid parking in popular parking lots.

While the plan steers the county’s and visitor industry’s resources and sets goals for the next three years, it also notes that it is a working document that can change as the visitor industry recovers and stakeholder needs change .

The plan itself, however, is clear: that of the COVID-19 “Pause” to “rebuild better” for the residents and visitors of Kaua’i. An old chant describes the island, Maika’i Kauai, Hemolele i ka malie – Beautiful Kaua’i, peaceful in peace. The plan is to preserve the beauty of Kaua’i and maintain the calm serenity that has made it a coveted destination.

The full DMAP can be checked here.

The author recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language such as kahako (macron); However, some of them have been omitted for compatibility with web browsers.