With spring break just around the corner, I know many of us are dreaming of picturesque beach resorts, sprawling out on the beach by day and partying the nights away. Popular destinations this year include Mexico City, Los Cabos and other renowned hotspots among tourists.
Trust me, I get the appeal. My family and I travelled to Oahu two years ago for my cousin’s wedding. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, and the time spent with family was wonderful.
However, during the 48 hours we were there, we stayed in a chain hotel, eating only hotel breakfast and the catered wedding food. We had done little research on the local area and failed to support local businesses.
Aside from Hawaii’s signature beautiful landscape, we could’ve been anywhere, oblivious to the people around us or their opinions of us as tourists. Why take a five-hour flight to a destination if we don’t know the tenets of its culture or the history of the land on which we’re standing?
I now realize how irresponsible tourism harms local communities, and I can’t recommend Hawaii as a spring break destination for 5C students.
We often view these spring break destinations as our playgrounds — places we can teleport to, having the best week of our lives before returning to our lives of privilege, leaving the communities we partied in as a mere afterthought. However, whether in Hawaii or elsewhere, we need to recognize that we are merely visitors in places that aren’t ours.
You are not entitled to an experience just because you can afford it. If we travel thinking the local communities aren’t our concern, we risk hurting residents’ livelihoods even if we don’t intend to.
The tourism industry treads a fine line between cultural exchange and exploitation. Take Machu Picchu, an ancient wonder that tourists polluted and vandalized. I know now that Hawaii suffers similarly, but its issues are rooted in American colonial history.
In 1893, white sugar plantation owners led a coup that overthrew Queen Liliuokalani. Despite resistance from Kanaka Maoli — Native Hawaiians — the U.S. annexed Hawaii as a territory in 1898. Statehood in 1959 made it too convenient of a destination for entitled American tourists who are comfortably unaware of the island’s culture and history.
Like many other destinations heavily reliant on tourism, many say Hawaii must take steps toward a more self-sustaining economy. But until that happens, tourists must be responsible. Had my family researched before our trip, we would’ve learned about proposals for caps on tourist services and limits on airline capacity, as well as the ongoing grassroots decolonization movement. We would’ve realized that our actions didn’t exist in a vacuum.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many residents found relief in the break from tourism. But as travel surged post-quarantine, Hawaii became overwhelmed with overtourism, a shortage of hospitality workers and widespread disrespect towards the local environment and culture.
In 2022, the Mayor of Maui pleaded with the public for a tourism pause, and 67 percent of residents agreed that their island “is being run for tourists at the expense of local people.” Most businesses profiting off of tourism, such as hotels and Airbnbs, are not Kanaka-owned. As a result, the cost of living continues to increase, displacing Kanaka Maoli from their ancestral homes and exacerbating homelessness.
That said, not all locals oppose tourism. Many welcome respectful visitors who are willing to learn. In Kauai, 95 percent of residents support “regenerative tourism,” in which visitors actively work to leave the space better than they found it.
Tourism is undeniably vital to Hawaii’s economy. The Maui fires in 2023 strained the island’s resources, and the loss of tourism revenue worsened the situation.
However, reliance on tourism is itself a product of colonial and capitalist structures that have displaced Kanaka Maoli. I once saw tourism as unambiguously beneficial. After learning about the lives lost due to American imperialism and experiencing the inequality late-stage capitalism perpetuates, I’ve realized that not every nation shares the West’s priorities. When we, as Americans, impose our measures of success on other nations and assume they “need” our tourism, we uphold Western hegemony.
My family and I should’ve asked locals how best to support them as outsiders, even if they were to suggest that we never return. As visitors, it is the least we owe them.
Supporting local businesses reduces dependence on corporate tourism and imported goods. Instead of staying in chain hotels, look for locally owned vacation rentals or farm stays. Buy from local markets — Island Craft Fairs hosts artisan and farmers’ markets across Oahu, Maui and Kauai. Farmlink Hawaii delivers groceries from local farmers across Oahu.
Hawaii is not an aesthetic backdrop for your vacation. Indigenous Hawaiians take pride in their spiritual values, which are incompatible with a mainland driven by capitalism and hyperindividualism. Kanaka Maoli have lost their homes and livelihoods at the hands of the U.S. Tourism, if done irresponsibly, only adds to this displacement.
Even if you’re not going to Hawaii, I urge you to keep those principles in mind. In Oaxaca, residents fight gentrification fueled by tourism. Locals in Los Cabos are dying while tourists stay sheltered in their resorts. As you travel, ask yourself, are you just making a bigger mess for others to clean up?
And if you just want to party and go to the beach, there are plenty of options I can recommend to you just an hour away.
Nicole Teh SC ’27 is from Hong Kong and has lived in Southern California for five years. She loves swimming, music and going to the beach.
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