(BIVN) – Plans to manage tourism impacts on six Hawaiian islands have been unveiled by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA).
In a Friday announcement, HTA Interim President and CEO Caroline Anderson shared the 2026–28 Destination Management Action Plans, including the plan for Hawaiʻi island.
In 2025, Hawaiʻi island visitor expenditures totaled $3.23 billion, according to HTA’s preliminary data, which is a 0.3% increase from 2024 ($3.22 billion). A Spring 2025 Resident Sentiment Survey shows only half of Hawaiʻi Island residents agreed that “Tourism has brought more benefits than problems.”
Among the pages of information is a Hawaiʻi island “SWOT Analysis”, listing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for Hawai‘i Island as a destination. The SWOT Analysis was used as “a planning tool to inform priorities and actions, rather than as a comprehensive assessment of all conditions impacting destination management,” the plan stated.
Each plan focuses on “hotspots under strain”, identified by residents, and “lays out clear, sequential, measurable actions to care for them over the next three years.”
On Hawaiʻi island, those hotspots were identified as Keaukaha in Hilo, Kealakekua Bay & Kaʻawaloa in South Kona, and Ka Lae in Kaʻū. Numerous additional sites under strain were also identified.
The HTA says the island-based destination manager on Hawaiʻi island, Matthew Sueda, like the destination managers on the other islands, will moving from planning to action in the months ahead. The destination managers will be “working shoulder-to-shoulder with agencies, community organizations, and industry partners,” the HTA says.
“Here is what success looks like to us,” the HTA continued. “Three years from now, a family in Keaukaha sees their shoreline parks better cared for. A driver on the Hāna Highway moves through a corridor that works for the people who live along it. A visitor to Hoʻopiʻi Falls arrives understanding they are a guest in a cherished place. And across every island, residents know their voice makes a difference.”
