Hawaii is again recording a record increase in visitor arrivals despite the ongoing pandemic, but Hawaii Tourism Chief Jon de Fries has additional worries. He sees the Hawaiian culture is once again reduced to a mere commodity, and is fighting the Hawaii State Senate for taking his control over the Transient Accommodation Tax.
- Today we witnessed our Hawaiian Culture is once again reduced to a mere commodity that can be horse-traded, and this tendency and historical pattern must stop – and will stop, on my watch at HTA (Hawaii Tourism Authority)
- Such words are not coming from a cultural or environmental watchdog, or an organization opposing the visitor’s industry, but from John De Fries, the man in charge of rebuilding the travel and tourism industry in Hawaii.
- Watch the introduction by Patricia Herman, VP of Marketing for HTA presented to the World Tourism Network(WTN) earlier this week. WTN is a global discussion with tourism leaders in 127 countries
