![]() He noted that they’re helped by Hawaii’s property tax, which is the lowest in the country. He explained that people have been buying homes and apartments, converting them into short-term vacation rentals, which ends up limiting the housing supply. Residents spend an average of 42% of their income on rent, which is the highest percentage in the U.S., according to an analysis from Forbes Home.Ī report from Aloha United Way found that the number of Hawaiian households living in poverty grew from 9% in 2018 to 15% in 2022.Īgrusa said he does think tourism has helped fuel housing prices, but pointed to Airbnb and short-term vacation rentals as catalysts. Hawaii has one of the highest housing prices in the country, with the median home price standing at $713,000. The inability to afford basic necessities like shelte r is also pricing out Native Hawaiians. stood at $710, those who worked in this industry got paid $311 a week. While the average weekly wage in the U.S. She added that extractive tourism also involves the appropriation of the local culture, which becomes “commodified and sold to tourists.”Ī study from Florida State University published in 2019 found that workers in the leisure and hospitality industry get paid the least out of all labor industries. “There’s inherently a class divide there,” she said. Global corporate tourism relies on the unskilled - and sometimes skilled - labor of local residents who are paid below a living wage in order to support the tourists who are able to afford these trips, Aikau explained. It’s an uncomfortable truth,” said Hōkūlani Aikau, director of the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria. I don’t think people think about or want to think about going on vacation as contributing to extraction. “I think folks need to understand that global corporate tourism is fundamentally an extractive industry. It is the economic engine of this state,” said Jerry Agrusa, a professor of travel industry management at University of Hawaii at Manoa.ĭespite the economic revenue that the industry generates, Native Hawaiians point out that residents aren’t partaking in those profits. Back in 2022, 9.2 million visitors came to the state, with total visitor spending reaching $19.8 billion, up from about $13 billion in 2021. Tourism represents about a quarter of the state’s economic activity. Or, your choices are limited versus if you had a diversified economy,” said Malia Akutagawa, an associate professor of law and Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who was born and raised on Molokai, Hawaii’s fifth largest island.īeyond Maui, Native Hawaiians have also raised broader concerns about the ethics of visiting Hawaii in general, pointing out that tourism has led to environmental degradation and fueled income inequality. “Because Maui relies so much on tourism, it’s almost like you have no choice. Not yet,” said restaurant bartender Pa‘ele Kiakona at a news conference according to the Associated Press. But others say they need the business from tourism because their livelihoods depend on it. ![]() “We are not mentally nor emotionally ready to welcome and serve our visitors. Josh Green that asked him to postpone the reopening. ![]() The economic damage of these fires could reach as high as $16 billion.īut residents protested the decision, delivering a petition with over 3,500 signatures to Gov. 8, West Maui began reopening to tourists after being devastated by deadly wildfires that left nearly 100 people dead and destroyed or damaged more than 2,200 buildings.
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