“Sometimes the best way to support decolonization and Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) resurgence is to not come as a tourist to our home,” the editors write. Even better, they write, would be choosing not to vacation in Hawaii at all. Many tourists’ relationship to Hawaii is an extractive one, Gonzalez and Aikau write, and that relationship must shift to one of support if the Hawaii tourists know and the Hawaii its residents live in are to continue to exist. One way to support Native Hawaiians is to not visit at all, some say I’m not interested in giving people permission to visit Hawaii guilt-free.” “But there are also many people who simply want the novelty of a ‘reality’ tour or seek to assuage their guilt by doing a more ‘socially responsible’ tourism. “I guess it could be seen as a good sign that people want to learn and be more responsible as travelers,” he said. While he prioritizes educational and political groups that can help create change locally, he has seen both residents and visitors on his tours, some of whom go on to become involved in the causes he highlights. Though Kajihiro doesn’t advertise his services, visitors are increasingly seeking them out. Kajihiro leads DeTours to locations like downtown Honolulu to discuss Hawaii’s former sovereignty to ‘Iolani Palace, where the US supported a White settler-led coup against Queen Lili’uokalani to military landmarks like the Pearl Harbor memorial to discuss American efforts to transform parts of Hawaii into military strongholds. The program, which he runs with lifelong activist Terrilee Kekoʻolani, aims to “interject a more critical historical account of Hawaii” in hopes that it’ll start conversations about social responsibility and create solidarity with social justice and environmental activist efforts in Hawaii. In an effort to reclaim the histories of Hawaii and educate residents and visitors about the impacts of colonization, militarization and tourism, Kajihiro created the Hawai’i DeTour Project. ‘DeTours’ show the real history of Hawaii beyond the beach To empower Native Hawaiians and return some of their rights, the tourism industry needs to change, beginning with its ethos, Kajihiro said. (Kānaka Maoli is the Hawaiian-language term for Native Hawaiians.) “Tourism normalizes and conceals the current dystopian reality experienced by many Kānaka Maoli and the poor immigrant communities in Hawaii,” Kajihiro told CNN. Its housing market is one of the most expensive in the country, ProPublica and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported in 2020, and with a large demand for land and a limited amount of it, Native Hawaiians can spend decades waiting to reclaim ancestral land, leading some to move from the islands. It also has the highest cost of living in the nation, partly due to the state having to import around 90% of its goods. If visitors to Hawaii decenter themselves and instead take with them respect and a willingness to learn - or choose not to visit at all - then Hawaii may be preserved for the people who have called it home for centuries, activists say. He’s one of several residents who have worked to educate visitors and return some elements of Hawaiian culture to the people from whom it originated. The industry must change to improve the futures of Native Hawaiians, Kajihiro told CNN. “It conditions visitors to feel entitled.” “I think that it is too easy for people to visit places like Hawaii,” Kajihiro said. The tourism industry in Hawaii powers its state revenue, but that reliance on tourism has resulted in Native Hawaiians getting priced out of their homes, climate change wreaking havoc on the natural landscape, and a lack of respect for the 50th state that is also the ancestral land of more than half a million people. But as it exists now, the powerful tourism industry dictates the lives of Native Hawaiians, often for the worse, said Kyle Kajihiro, a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and activist for the rights of Native Hawaiians.
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