The Hawaii seen by most tourists is one of the azure waters and towering resorts, of Aloha, Ohana, and Hula.
Kyle Kajihiro, a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Native Hawaiian rights activist, said that a robust tourism industry, as it exists now, dictates the lives of Native Hawaiians, often for the worse.
Hawaii's tourism industry subsidizes its government revenue, but this reliance on tourism has driven Native Hawaiians out of their homes, climate change has wreaked havoc on the landscape, and disrespect for the 50 states that are also ancestors. The land of more than half a million people.
"I think it's very easy for people to visit places like Hawaii," Kajihiro said. "It relaxes visitors to feel qualified."
Kagehiro told CNN that the industry must change to improve the future of Native Hawaiians. He is one of many residents who have worked to educate visitors and return some elements of Hawaiian culture to the people from whom they originated.
Activists say that if visitors to Hawaii were themselves, and instead took with them respect and a willingness to learn — or chose not to visit at all — Hawaii might be preserved for the people who called it home for centuries.
For many residents, living in Hawaii is not a vacation
Tourism is the largest single source of private capital in Hawaii, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it's still incredibly profitable: In April alone, visitors to Hawaii spent more than $1 billion on the islands, according to a government report marking a tourism recovery since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But what is profitable for Hawaii's economy can negatively affect the lives of Native Hawaiians and residents throughout the year. To combat drought conditions, residents last year were asked to reduce their water consumption or face a fine while larger resorts continued to use more water.
There are millions more visitors annually than permanent residents - in 2021 there were more than 6.7 million visitors compared to 1.4 million residents - which could cause increased carbon emissions and overuse of its beaches, hiking trails and other natural wonders.
Hawaii has even been dubbed the "Extinction Capital of the World" for the number of species that are either extinct or critically endangered.
It also has the highest cost of living in the country, in part because the country has to import about 90% of its goods.
Its housing market is among the most expensive in the country, according to ProPublica and Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2020, and with land in high demand and a limited supply, Native Hawaiians can spend decades waiting for their ancestral lands to be restored, leading some to relocate from the islands.
"Tourism normalizes and obscures the current miserable reality experienced by many residents of Kanaka Maoli and poor immigrant communities in Hawaii," Kajihiro told CNN. (Kānaka Maoli is a Hawaiian term for Native Hawaiians.)
To empower Native Hawaiians and restore some of their rights, Kajihiro said, the tourism industry needs to change, starting in its ethos.
'DeTours' shows the true history of Hawaii off the beach
In an effort to recover Hawaii's history and educate residents and visitors about the effects of colonialism, militarism, and tourism, Kajihiro created the Hawai'i DeTour Project.
The program, which he runs with lifelong activist Terelli Kekolani, aims to "intervene a more important historical narrative about Hawaii" in the hope of initiating debates about social responsibility and creating solidarity with social justice and the efforts of environmental activists in Hawaii.
Kagehiro leads DeTours to locations such as downtown Honolulu to discuss the former Hawaiian supremacy; to the Iolani Palace, where the United States supported a coup led by white settlers against Queen Lily O'Kalani; to military landmarks such as Pearl Harbor Memorial to discuss US efforts to turn parts of Hawaii into military strongholds.
Although Kajihiro does not advertise its services, visitors are increasingly looking for it. While he prioritizes educational and political groups that can help bring about change locally, he has seen both residents and visitors on his tours, some of whom have shared the causes he highlights.
"I think it can be taken as a good sign of people's desire to learn and be more responsible as travellers," he said. “But there are also many people who simply want a new tour of 'reality' or seek to assuage their guilt by doing more 'socially responsible' tourism. I'm not interested in giving people permission to visit Hawaii without guilt."
Some say one way to support Native Hawaiians is to not visit at all
Two teachers in Hawaii borrowed the name Operation Kagehiro for their book, which he also shares his principles with. Detours: A Diclonal Guide to Hawaii, co-edited by Fernadette Gonzalez and Hokulani Aikao, is no ordinary how-to book—it's a call to action.
The book is designed to educate readers about Hawaii's past and present and the negative effects of colonialism, militarism, and tourism. Even if readers have never made it to Hawaii, the stories take them to some of the locations that Kagehiro leads his groups to.
In the book's preface, Gonzalez and ICAO write that not all readers will be "invited or allowed to go to all places shown," and some places have been excluded entirely because they are "not intended for outsiders."
Gonzalez and ICAO write that the relationship of many tourists to Hawaii is an exploitative one, and this relationship must turn into one of support if the Hawaiian tourists know and the Hawaii whose residents live will continue to exist. Even better, they wrote, that they choose not to vacation in Hawaii at all.
"Sometimes the best way to support decolonization and the return of Kanaka Uyui (Native Hawaiians) is to not come as a tourist to our home," the editors wrote.
Improving tourism starts with respecting the islands and the indigenous Hawaiians
Of course, there will always be tourists in Hawaii as long as it remains the islands' number one industry - and as long as its beaches lure guests with deep pockets. The nonprofit Sustainable Tourism Association of Hawaii connects tourists with local attractions that emphasize cultural and environmental responsibility.
The Coconut Traveler, a travel company created by Debbie Misajon, the granddaughter of Filipino immigrants who relocated to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations, targets wealthy guests and charges responsible tourism fees, 100% of which goes to local organizations working to preserve Hawaii's natural beauty.
Refocusing the focus of a trip to Hawaii from the guest to the island and its residents may mitigate the impact the tourist has there, Mesagon told CNN.
"I'm in favor of coming and enjoying the islands, but (I) encourage people to find ways to be part of the solution," Misagon said. "This may be cliched, but spend your money locally."
Kajihiro said making fundamental changes to the tourism industry should start by restoring rights to Native Hawaiians and allowing them to decide how they want to share and consume their culture, if any.
He said there is already a model for this in New Zealand, where the Maori people control how their culture is represented and experienced by tourists, with an emphasis on mutual respect.
"Let's drop the word tourism," Kajihiro said. "The term itself characterizes the consumer, the work of the consumer premises, and the transactional relationship."
Instead, he said, visitors should "rethink travel as entering someone else's home." He said that a guest at someone else's home might bring a gift or express gratitude to their host in other ways.
“As a visitor, you bear the burden of learning, acting responsibly, not being a burden and respecting your hosts,” Kajihiro said.