>Just look at the Hawaiians begging people not to visit.

If it wasn't for tourism, Hawai'i would've spent the last 50 years impoverished like modern-day Puerto Rico, following the sugar collapse in the 1970s.

I don't see Hawai'ians complaining that they have public schools, or hospitals, or any of the other services that tourist dollars affords them. Tourists dump $18 billion cash into Hawai'i every year (except during Covid, obviously) - that's a lot more than Hawai'ians are putting back into slots at the Cal in downtown Vegas, it's quite the trade imbalance.

It's like the anti-tourism folks don't see the connection between this:

>“I think that it is too easy for people to visit places like Hawaii,” (Kyle Kajihiro, a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa) said.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/18/us/hawaii-tourism-impact-united-shades-cec/index.html

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and this (all during Covid, when Hawai'ian tourism was massively reduced):

• Legislature cuts University of Hawaii-Manoa’s operating budget by nearly 14%
• Hawaii’s Budget Relies on Federal Relief Funds to Avoid Cuts
• The Battered State Budget Will Dominate The Next Hawaii Legislature: With money tight, lawmakers are looking to the Biden administration and Congress to help shore up a huge deficit as the 2021 session opens this week.
• Hawaii teachers union says layoffs still loom even with $123M less in cuts
• Hawaiian Airlines may lay off more than 800 employees
• Reduced hours, layoffs and furloughs resume in Hawaii tourism as federal safety net disappears
• Hawaiian Hilton Workers Fear Permanent Layoffs As Recall Rights Expiration Nears
• United Laundry Services to lay off over 800 workers
• Union: Hundreds of Hawaii airport workers to be laid off
• Under New Leadership, HART Purges Nearly Half Its Staff

If tourism is so bad for Hawai'i, why were they begging for money from haoles like Biden as soon as Covid cut off their tourism revenue? Could it be that ~20% of the state's entire GDP actually pays for some important things?

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source: mainlander with family in the islands who's sick of their constant monku monku monku about it