Preservation A new independent study of tourism and the environment shows what most would expect it to show, that what Hawaii residents and environmental activists most want is protection of natural coastlines and the environment of the islands. What they least want is more tourist resort development.
tops survey of
tourists, residents
Development of more
resorts comes in last
in a new UH studyBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comBut the study also shows that tourists share the same views, saying they want to preserve Hawaii's natural and cultural assets, rather than get more and better restaurants, golf courses, luxury resorts and shopping centers.
"I think it's saying that we need to keep Hawaii 'Hawaii,'" said Samuel V. Lankford, University of Hawaii professor and director of the Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program at the UH Travel Industry Management school, which conducted the survey.
The STEP program, funded through a grant to UH by former U.S. diplomat L.W. "Bill" Lane -- and therefore not coming from political, private-interest, pro-development or environmentalist sources -- interviewed what it says is a statistically worthwhile sampling of 501 visitors at Hawaii airports.
The survey also included responses from 217 residents and a separate tally of 88 responses from members of the Hawaii Eco-tourism Association.
Lankford acknowledged that the visitor responses may not be totally representative of what all visitors might say, because they came only from visitors who were in the islands during a short period when the survey was done.
"But the percentages are very consistent with those of other groups," he said.
The survey also did not include developers and tourist industry managers, who may be covered in later steps of the program, Lankford said.
Survey participants were simply asked which items they ranked as most important, and could select more than one option.
More than 70 percent of island residents and more than 65 percent of visitors checked "preservation of natural coastlines" as most important.
Keeping areas "natural" rated tops with more than 55 percent of both residents and tourists. There was parallel agreement between those two groups on preserving cultural experiences, with 40 percent of both groups giving that top priority.
Tourists were less interested than residents in hiking or bike trails (about 40 percent of residents and 30 percent of tourists). About 25 percent of tourists cared about parks and campgrounds, compared with more than 50 percent of local residents.
Residents cared more than tourists about public transportation and preserving rural charm.
At the low end of the scale, nearly 15 percent of residents favored gambling in Hawaii's future while just more than 5 percent of tourists felt that way.
When it comes to developing golf courses, luxury resorts and shopping centers, fewer than 10 percent of island residents saw those as important for the future, and those developments got a slightly lower thumbs-up from tourists.
When members of the Hawaii Eco-tourism Association were asked the same questions, well over half the respondents favored protecting the coastline, keeping Hawaii as unchanged as possible, maintaining rural charm, keeping public transportation and promoting excursions that focus on the ecology of the islands.
Least favored by that group were developments leading to gambling or more resorts, golf courses or shopping centers.
A smaller survey of environmentalists showed well over 90 percent listing preservation of the coastlines as the No. 1 priority, with proportionately high marks in favor of the other pro-environment choices and practically a zero response in favor of resort development.
Lankford said future parts of the ongoing survey will address such issues as how many tourists the islands can host.
PDF of survey report