Since its launch in mid-October, some 2.5 million travelers have undergone Safe Travels Hawaii’s COVID-19 screenings, and the state is now averaging about 20,000 arrivals daily. This welcome rebound bump for the visitor industry should be accompanied by an action plan for improving tourism management, especially in parks, beach areas and other sites that were grappling with visitor-resident balance tensions before the pandemic hit.

Gov. David Ige, speaking on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” webcast this week, said: “We ought to be investing more in state parks to provide better infrastructure so that we can manage the people better.” He added, “We need to look at caps on the number of visitors (at some popular sites) and find better ways to share facilities.”

Agreed. Following last year’s sudden tourism flatlining — after years of record-breaking arrivals counts — Hawaii is due for robust public debate on how to move forward in safeguarding scenic-yet-fragile mauka and makai attractions. However, the debate must also be contained to realistic parameters.

While many residents have enjoyed a year of extra elbow room and an abundance of open parking spaces, for the foreseeable future, much of Hawaii’s economy will be be tourism-dependent. And if the state falls short of bringing the industry back to full strength, Ige warned “our economy will suffer for a long, long, long time.”

The governor envisions a “win-win” for establishing a more genial visitor-resident balance: trading pre-pandemic annual arrival counts of 10 million, for “the best 8-or-so-million visitors who are willing to listen to our mandates, to respect our culture and our environment.” Setting hard limits on arrivals is a pipe dream — but more indeed can be done to heighten visitor awareness of impact concerns as well as to limit and monetize entry areas, with fees going toward maintenance and facilities improvements.

On Kauai, an effort to reduce chronic traffic congestion at Haena State Park stands as a prime example. In response to the park’s rising popularity among visitors seeking to explore remote places — which resulted in rampant illegal parking along a narrow highway — the state launched a reservation-voucher system in 2019. It limits entry to a more-manageable count of about 900 people daily, down from previous all-comers counts of up to 3,000 daily visitors.

On Oahu, tighter caps on access and higher fees are now rightly in place at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve and Diamond Head State Monument, both of which have histories of being overwhelmed. We can and should set limits on access to environmentally sensitive sites that can be gated after reasonable hours. To that end, the focus should be held to effectively manage general public access — without placing residents and visitors into separate groups.

It’s hard to imagine fair implementation, or even viable enforcement, of a “notion” proposed by Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO John De Fries — and supported by Ige as a topic for visitor-resident balance discussions — of “having some parks and some facilities open to residents only on weekends.”

Even so, now is the opportune time to debate all possibilities as the state Department of Land and Natural Resources is seeking community input for its five-year update of the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). The plan is required to maintain eligibility for a federal grant program that assists with the development and renovation of recreation facilities.

At virtual meetings slated through May, the public may weigh in on trends and priorities tied to Hawaii recreation facilities. An Oahu-specific meeting is set for 6 p.m. today. For information on how to participate — and interested residents really should — visit www.dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/scorp/.