The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority released its most recent strategic plan for 2026-2030, stressing the importance of community input, responsible tourism and visitor spending.
Dozens of community input sessions and state agency discussions influenced the 2026 plan, an update from the 2020 version, resulting in three key pillars: brand marketing, experience development and tourism leadership.
Caroline Anderson, HTA’s interim president and CEO, said that the plan is a way to inform the public of the organization’s priorities, responsibilities and ways it is working with partners to delegate tasks.
“A lot of people think that we are to solve everything, and that’s hard for one agency to do, so this plan really focuses on what can we realistically do, and what can we collaborate with other state agencies on,” Anderson said. “We know that partnering with them is key, especially for a visitor destination, because the beauty of our islands is what attracts visitors here. We need to take care of that, as well as our residents.”
Over the next four years, HTA will monitor resident sentiment, visitor satisfaction, daily visitor spending and total expenditures to monitor its success or shortcomings.
Anderson noted that being in the tourism industry means maintaining a tricky balance of ensuring the state’s economy is continually supported by visitors, while also being respectful of resident’s wishes. She said the community input sessions and surveys were integral in hearing what residents were most concerned about.
“We need to have a thriving visitor industry because, in the end, it provides for a better quality of life for our residents, but we also want to take into consideration what the communities are feeling and experiencing to make sure we are addressing their concerns and putting action to that,” Anderson said. “Anything that the HTA supports is making sure that there’s a tie back into the community — that the community benefits in some way.”
A few ways the plan strives to help residents is through HTA’s community enrichment program, regenerative tourism efforts that hope to foster a deeper respect and understanding of the land and local entrepreneurship assistance that can help bring residents into the visitor industry.
Anderson added that the newest plan had to account for things that have happened since the last version was released in 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, rising costs and the Lahaina wildfire.
There was also a shift in mindset among visitors who planned to come to Hawaiʻi, but changed their minds before their trip. The cost of travel and vacation packages continues to be the leading deterrent, but a growing number of visitors — 14% in 2025 versus 8% in 2024 — said they pulled back on their plans because they heard residents are opposed to visitors.
Anderson said HTA plans to develop a survey to analyze what major concerns and reasons for deterring travel are among visitors later this year.
HTA is hosting a conference in September to discuss the strategic plan in more detail and to gauge how the community feels.
