Tourism In Hawaii Case Study

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Does tourism in Hawaii need to be improved? Since Hawaii’s acceptance as a U.S. state in 1959, tourists have flocked from all over the world to see its natural beauty (50states.com). Tourism in Hawaii has grown for over 50 years, as a statistic from the Hawaii Tourism Authority states that an influx of 8,941,394 tourists visited Hawaii in 2016. But as the number of tourist visits rises, so do the issues associated with tourists, leading Hawaii’s government to juggle between the needs of the natives and businesses in Hawaii. The tourist industry rakes in an amount of $15.6 billion annually, and strives to continue growing (Hawaii Tourism Authority). It plans to continue growing by fighting to repeal the travel ban, by keeping the homeless …show more content…

To protect the tourist industry in Waikiki, the government has passed a sit-lie ban, which is a ban on the sitting or laying of people on sidewalks (Barney). Officials like Mufi Hannemann, President of the Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association, agree with the law as he stated, “If the tourism industry weren’t our number one industry it’d be one thing to argue it’s not a priority, but it’s a priority” (Barney). Despite the fact that the new law was instituted to improve tourist reports, the law also included the foundation for an outreach program that has amounted $2 million, funded by hotels and private donors (Barney). But, while some received the care they needed, most were just moved around the island without solving the root issue of homelessness. This causes the, “...cycling people in and out of jails...” (Barney). The criminalization of homeless people causes a vicious cycle that never ends. Adding to the issue is the movement of homeless people to the beaches as they share the same rights as normal beach goers and therefore cannot be removed. City Spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke states, “When developing the sit-lie laws, we did discuss the fact that the beach park would be a loophole, but it obviously wasn’t a workable idea to ban people from lying on the beach during the day”(Schaefers). This loophole has caused the beaches of Hawaii to receive a surge of homeless people who cause pollution and concern amongst tourists. The government has therefore begun to search for a solution to benefit both sides of the homeless

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