Hawaii Turns Over Tourism Marketing to Group Rooted in Local Culture
Photo Credit: Kauai, Hawaii Unsplash / Karsten Winegeart
Skift Take
By choosing a community-centered nonprofit to help craft Hawaii's tourism marketing, the state's tourism authority made a bold statement, severing a century-old relationship with the conventions and visitors bureau. It's sparking controversy, but this is the uneasy path to redefining the future of tourism.
The pandemic was cathartic for so many tourism-dependent destinations, for none perhaps more than Hawaii.
During the fall of 2020, nearly two-third of the state residents surveyed said they did not want visitors back on the islands, despite high unemployment from pandemic-sidelined local tourism workers. It was telling for the Hawaii Tourism Authority, or HTA, the state agency that conducted the survey, about the growing concerns over overtourism and how disconnected locals felt from being part of the tourism process.
Fast forward nearly two years later. In early June, the authority awarded a multiyear contract to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a local nonprofit, to help market the islands to the U.S. The contract is set to expire in December 2024 and is worth $34 million. One component of the contract is also destination management.
“What the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement did is put together a group of marketing organization
