While the overall perception of tourism in Hawaii remains high among residents, for the first time in the history of a state-backed sentiment survey dating back to 1988, those employed by the visitor industry were less favorable about the industry than those who don’t work in the sector.
Visitor-industry households ranked their perception of Hawaii tourism at 7.98 on a 10-point scale and non-visitor-industry households at 8.16. In 2012 the mean for visitor-industry households was 8.1, and in 2010 it was 8.2, according to Barbara Ankersmit, founder of QMark Research, which conducted the 2014 study for the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.
"It was pretty surprising," Ankersmit told HTA board members at their Wednesday meeting. "Perception of tourism among the visitor-industry household segment continues to decline."
According to the survey, visitor-industry households were more likely to agree with the following statements:
» This island is being run for tourists at the expense of local people.
» Tourism results in a higher cost of living.
» My island’s economy is too dependent on tourism.
Visitor-industry households were less likely to agree that tourism sustains Hawaii’s natural resources, parks and cultural sites. They also were less likely to credit tourism with preserving Native Hawaiian culture and language.
The survey, designed to measure attitudes toward the state’s top economic driver, was last conducted in 2012 and has been conducted off and on since 1988. HTA paid QMark $43,000 to conduct the most recent survey, which had a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.
QMark interviewed 1,664 people by phone last fall. Age, sex, ethnicity, education, wealth and the island on which respondents lived had some bearing on how those surveyed viewed tourism.
"As the state’s tourism agency, the HTA is committed to balancing resident and visitor needs. Our Resident Sentiment Study provides invaluable feedback from the community which helps us to gauge our marketing and community efforts as well as identify issues that are important to residents as we strive to work together to improve and sustain Hawaii’s tourism economy," said Ron Williams, HTA chief executive officer.
Ankersmit said overall general perceptions of Hawaii’s tourism industry remain stable at a mean of about 8 on a 10-point scale, which was relatively the same result produced in the 2010 and 2012 studies.
The latest survey also showed that Oahu residents feel more positive about the impact of tourism on the state than do their neighbor-island counterparts.
"However, the responses from Hawaii island and Kauai residents are growing more affirmative," Ankersmit said.
Likewise, residents who were 65 or older had a more favorable perception of tourism than younger segments of the survey sample. Among all the ethnicities surveyed, Filipinos were happiest about the impacts of tourism on the state, while Native Hawaiians tended to provide the lowest scores.
Some 64 percent of responders, down from 67 percent in 2012 and 80 percent in 2010, agreed that tourism has brought more benefits than problems.
When it came to evaluating the personal impacts that tourism has on residents, 45 percent of those surveyed agreed that tourism had been mostly positive for their family. That’s up from 44 percent in 2012 but down from 60 percent in 1988, the first year of the survey.
When asked to put a number on how favorable the impacts of tourism have been on themselves and family members, respondents came up with 6.56 out of 10 points.
Visitor-industry households rated this question higher at 7 out of 10 points than non-visitor-industry households, who gave it a 5.96 out of 10 points. However, Ankersmit said that the mean rating by visitor-industry households declined noticeably from 7.7 in 2012 to 7 out of 10 points in 2014.
Like the other sections of the survey, feelings about tourism’s impacts on individuals and families varied based on respondents’ ethnicity and where they were born and raised.
"Among the major ethnic segments in the state, Caucasian and Hawaiians are the least likely to believe that tourism has a positive impact on them personally," Ankersmit said. "At the same time, those who were born and raised in Hawaii seem to be less concerned about the cost of living and traffic than those that have come here."
David Uchiyama, HTA vice president of brand management, said survey trends also correlate to the market.
"When we are in a down market, we tend to trend more favorably, and when we are in a peak, we trend down," Uchiyama said.
Survey respondents from the neighbor islands, which have realized less tourism growth, were more positive about the impact that tourism has on themselves and their families than Oahu residents. They were also more likely to be employed in the tourism industry. And, Ankersmit said, they were more likely to agree that tourism brings well-paid jobs to their island than Oahu residents.
Transplants to Hawaii were less likely to credit tourism with providing many well-paying jobs. However, young adults ages 18 to 34 as well as Filipinos, males and less affluent responders were more likely to agree that tourism creates many well-paying jobs. Females, Filipinos and those without college degrees were more likely to agree that tourism creates jobs that have opportunities for advancement.
Oahu residents and transplants to the isles were more likely to acknowledge that tourism creates shopping, restaurants and entertainment opportunities for residents. Native Hawaiians, meanwhile, were the least likely of any ethnicity to agree that these offshoots of tourism were beneficial.
Native Hawaiians, visitor-industry households, males and young adults under the age of 35 were less likely to agree that tourism helps preserve Native Hawaiian culture and language. Native Hawaiians also were the least likely ethnicity to agree that tourism currently presents Native Hawaiian culture in an authentic manner.
Less affluent, less educated respondents were more likely to say that tourism presented Native Hawaiian culture in an authentic manner. People whose families made less than $50,000 in household income annually were the most likely to agree that tourism is consistent with the community values on their island.
Residents under the age of 35 also were less likely to agree that tourism is an industry that enhances residential quality of life. Filipino residents were the most likely to say it enhanced their life, while Native Hawaiians were the least likely.
Filipino and Japanese residents were more likely to agree that tourism connected them to the community than Caucasians and Native Hawaiians. College-educated and affluent residents were less likely to view tourism as way of connecting to the community.
