HONOLULU (HI Now) - The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority’s Destination Management Action Plans (DMAPs), a collaborative effort between HTA, community, local counties, and island visitor bureaus, aim to redefine tourism’s trajectory in Hawaiʻi’s major islands. These plans, outlined in HTA’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025,prioritize responsible tourism by addressing issues like over crowding and strained infrastructure while preserving natural and cultural assets.
HTA funded the community-driven Mālama Maui Hikina program, which contracted with three east Maui based nonprofits to manage five hot spots along the Hāna Highway. Stewards, often lineal descendants, were hired to actively manage tourism impacts by preventing illegal parking, sharing cultural history, gathering visitor data, discouraging trespassing and ensuring visitor safety. Organizations were also gathering visitor data, creating community driven messaging and creating a cultural repository of ʻike from kūpuna for the community, by the community. In this segment, we learn about community-driven tourism management along the Hāna Highway in east Maui and how three nonprofits have partnered with HTA to Steward their wahi pana frequented by visitors, gather visitor data, create community-driven messaging and more.
HTA has supported and is funding a total of 24 mineral only sunscreen dispensers at popular beaches and other sites throughout Maui including one on Lānaʻi. These dispensers are free for public use so it benefits kamaʻāina, āina and malihini. In this segment, we learn about HTAʻs partnership with Maui Nui Marine Resource Council in support of 24 mineral-only sunsceen dispensers available for free public use on Maui and Lānaʻi.
The Reef Friendly Landscaping Pilot Program was initiated to support the visitor industry in transitioning away from the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers on their properties. In this segment, we learn about HTA helping to fund the Reef Friendly Landscaping Pilot Program, in partnership with Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, West Maui Ridge to Reef, Beyond Pesticides and others. This program provided incentives to industry to incorporate organic land care practices on their properties.
Mālama Hāmākua nonprofit is stewarding a parcel of land along the Hāna Highway. They have been working to preserve the land and cultural sites and removing invasive species and restoring native plants. We welcome the community and visitors to volunteer on our monthly volunteer day, where groups remove trash, remove invasive species, plant native plants and more. In this segment, we learn about HTAʻs partnership with Mālama Hāmākua, a nonprofit organization in Maui that welcomes visitors to mālama ʻāina during their monthly volunteer days, through the Mālama Hawaiʻi program. HTA also supports Mālama Hāmākua by funding a series of interpretive signs for their property, making it more welcoming, easy to find and informative about how people can respect the ʻāina.
For more information on how the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority is moving the Destination Management Action Plan forward, visit holomua.hawaiitourismauthority.org and on social media @HawaiiHTA @OahuDMAP
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