The inhabitants of Hawaii think that the tourism industry is great from an economical point of view, but they don't see it as a great thing from an environmental perspective. In comparison to the recent years, the opinion of Hawaii inhabitants about the tourism industry has not changed.
However, the most recent study performed by Qmark Research shows that now there are fewer people saying the industry has brought more advantages to them than disadvantages. The study was made for the state's tourism agency, Hawaii Tourism Authority.
In the study, 1.665 Hawaii inhabitants were surveyed about the largest industry of this state. The president of Qmark Research, Barbara Ankersmit, said that then the respondents were asked to rate the tourism industry in the state using a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the most favorable) and the obtained rating was 8.06.
The average rating in 2012 was 8.10 and in 2013 it was 8.00. The president was surprised to see that people who didn't have family members working in the tourism industry provided a more favorable rating than the ones who were involved in tourism.
Another question asked was about how much the lives of the residents were influenced by the tourism industry (the rating of 10 being the most positive influence). 45% of people provided a rating of at least 7 and the result of 2012 was 44%.
The majority of Hawaii inhabitants think that the tourism industry has generated numerous jobs that are well-paid. On a scale of agreement with this affirmation of 1 to 10, the average result was 6.78. An average score of 7.63 has been obtained for opportunities like shopping, entertainment and restaurants. A score of 7.0 was obtained for people who think that tourism has generated opportunities for advancement. When it comes to preserving the Hawaiian culture, 48% of people rated this with 5 or less. The average result was 5.63.
For the question about tourism supporting natural resources, cultural sites and parks, 39% of people responded with a rating of 5 or less. The average score obtained was 6.21. When people were asked if the industry brings more advantages than disadvantages, 64% responded affirmatively. This percentage has decreased from: 67% in 2012 and 80% in 2010.
The vice president and brand manager of HTA, David Uchiyama, was interested if there could be a way to overlay this information with statistics like visitor arrivals. Hawaii inhabitants had a better opinion in the down years and the worse opinion in the thriving years. For the question about tourism representing the native culture in an authentic way (with an agreement scale from 1 to 10), the average result was 5.53. In 2012 it was 5.40.
3 of 4 inhabitants knew what HTA is before they participated in the survey. More than 70% of the residents who responded affirmatively were aware that it promotes tourism in Hawaii.