Hawaii tourism has rebounded much more quickly and fully than most people have expected — at least, if one is measuring by the arrival numbers.
The March domestic visitor arrivals count here was up by almost 10% over pre-pandemic levels, according to figures from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The occupancy rate also was high, placing Hawaii hotels in the No. 5 slot among top U.S. tourism markets, with available rooms commanding the highest rate.
All of this is good news for those watching the bottom line of the state’s core industry. But there’s more to the story that becomes especially hard to overlook today. This is May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day.
The people employed in tourism have not completely recovered what they lost during the COVID-19 disruption, which all but shut down the visitor industry in 2020. If the global corporate owners of this sector are recovering with profits, a fair share of that ought to go to the pay packets of the workers, and benefit the local economy overall.
That reading of worker status comes from UNITE HERE Local 5, Hawaii’s Hospitality and Healthcare Union. Focusing specifically on the roughly 9,000 in the hospitality sector, the total hours of employment have recovered to about 85% of where they were before the pandemic, said Bryant de Venecia, union spokesman.
De Venecia said this is because, while most of those laid off have been recalled to work, it’s not always been a full-time schedule.
This actually is an improvement since February, when work-hours had returned to only 65% of what they were in 2019, he added. However, the rehiring process has lagged behind the pace of industry recovery: The room rates have increased by one-third by now, de Venecia said, while there’s still room for labor to move up the ladder.
For starters, some service cutbacks deployed during the industry’s doldrums have lingered. Among them are daily room-cleaning protocols that have been curtailed. The reduced housekeeping staff, those who are on the job, confront dirtier rooms at the end of a guest’s stay, and a harder job.
On the visitor’s side, this can’t be a good experience, either. Many are paying higher rates and fees for a room and not getting the same value that had been standard in the past. On both fronts, it’s time for the new infusion of tourism revenue to be reinvested in the product, and in the human capital, the people who deliver it.
To be sure, this has been a tumultuous time for tourism, and the upheaval may not be over.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority, the state’s agency tasked with the general state shepherding of the industry, hit numerous walls this legislative session, the culmination of several years of strains over its funding.
The absolute last stage in decisionmaking on the HTA’s place in the overall budget comes this week, with the close of session looming on Thursday. But at this point, the prevailing legislative assessment of the agency is a dim one.
The authority has come under fire over the years for its marketing emphasis, and for less than scrupulous fiscal management. More recently, however, a change of leadership has culminated in the development of plans for more sustainable tourism, the adoption of an approach known as “destination management.”
Lawmakers have not been convinced of HTA’s ability to make this pivot. However, neither have they come up with a workable alternative strategy. The state really can’t afford ambivalence on this industry at a time when so much is in transition, and at stake.
If Hawaii is to retool its economic engine to be less burdensome on natural resources and on the community in general, there needs to be an entity at the helm that can steer tourism, with some security and stability over its funding.
And there’s more tumult coming to Oahu’s visitor sector in the just-enacted Bill 41, the city legislation reining in short-term rentals. For the hotels themselves, the strict curbs on which residences can be used as vacation rentals should be a boon. In recent years, Airbnb and other platforms have siphoned off bookings by visitors, some of whom would turn instead to a standard hotel reservation.
This regulatory scheme will have an impact on the ecosystem of supporting businesses that service short-term rentals all over the island. But implementing it is, ultimately, a necessary step to bring tourism into better balance with neighborhoods. Many kamaaina had watched the conversion of homes into what essentially were businesses in a residential zone.
The numbers of tourists are likely to increase further, as Japan gradually resumes its central position in Hawaii’s visitor market. Golden Week, which started Friday, served to remind residents of the prospective crowds.
Traffic is sure to ebb and flow as competition with other markets heats up, and Hawaii’s tourism industry will need consistent tending. It also needs to ensure that visitors take away a quality experience — and seeing to the needs of the labor force will be key to its ongoing success.
