The state is spending $1.2 million to study how many tourists Hawaii can accommodate without hurting the environment and the visitor experience, but does not plan to come up with an exact number, a state research official said yesterday. Tourism study
light on figuresA $1.2 million state sustainable
tourism report won't say how many
visitors to the isles are too manyStar-Bulletin staff
"We're not looking for any one number that says this is how large tourism can be," said Pearl Imada Iboshi, economic research administrator of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The purpose of the study, Iboshi said, is to create a mathematical model that could point out the impact of visitor behavior, and aid in government planning. The model is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
"Our goal is not to provide answers, but a tool to make decisions," Iboshi said. "You need to know how residents are affected by tourism."
Iboshi spoke yesterday at a joint meeting of the Travel & Tourism Research Association and the Pacific Asia Travel Association at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki.
DBEDT proposed the study to the Hawaii Tourism Authority after a record 6,975,866 visitors came to the state in 2000, Iboshi said.
Iboshi insisted that there is no single maximum number of visitors that the study could identify, because there are too many different variables. For example, the state has no clear handle on the number of independent bed and breakfast operations there are in Hawaii.
In January 2000, the Sierra Club sued the state Hawaii Tourism Authority, saying the state should be required to perform a formal environmental assessment of the impact of tourism on Hawaii's environment before it spends millions of dollars to bring in more visitors.
The lawsuit is pending before the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Iboshi said the DBEDT study is not a formal environmental impact assessment and was not meant to resolve the Sierra Club lawsuit.
However, the DBEDT study will seek public input, something that would be included in a formal environmental impact study.
The issue of impact on the environment is important, because annual growth tourism of just 1 percent means that another 63,000 people will be visiting the islands this year, Iboshi said.