長崎県立大学東アジア研究所『東アジア評論』
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〈研究ノート〉

Tourism Development and Environmental Problems
on Hawaii in the late 20th Century
Hayato ISHIHARA*
Koichi NAGAHAMA†the following: (1) the tourism industry directly or indirectly

1. Introduction

generates about 9% of world GDP; (2) export reached 1.5

This paper explains tourism development andthtrillion U.S. dollars in 2014, representing about 6% of theenvironmental problems in the late 20 century, with specificworld export value; (3) the number of international tourists has

focus on Maui’s water problem in 1990’s. The following threeincreased from 23 million in 1950 to 11 billion in 2014; andemphasized: (1) tourism industry has experienced rapidly and(4) the estimated number of domestic tourists in the same

significant great growth since the 1950’s, making it currently

period is between five and sixe billion. As outlined above, theone of the most important industries in the world; (2) the

tourism industry is a mega business in the world economy. ２growth of Hawaii coincides with the rise of the mass tourism

Figure 1 also indicates that the share of tertiary industry has

industry; and (3) the tourism development-related water

increased since the 1960’s. It is assumed that the growth of the

problem creates serious damage to a community such as Maui.

tourism industry will keep pace with the growth of the tertiary

Further, this paper shows that tourism development connotes a

industry for a while.

negative environmental impact for the destination.
2. 2. The relationship between the tourism industry and economic
growth

2. About the tourism industry

The tourism industry depended more strongly on

2. 1. The growth of tourism industry and its industrial scalebusiness fluctuations than other economic sectors. For

According to James Mak, the tourism has become an

example, Figure 2 shows the number of international tourists

economic sector of enormous global significance. Mak and

to Hawaii from 1966 to 2005, and Figures 3 and 4 show

other tourism researchers recognize that the tourism industry

American and Japanese economic growth, respectively. These１

has experienced rapid growth since World War II . In addition,

figures indicate that the American and Japanese economies

the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)’s

worsened in the early 1990’s and in 2008, and that the2015 report indicates that the growth of the tourism industry

decrease in international tourists to Hawaii at these times

influenced the global economic trend.

coincides with the US and Japanese recession. In other words,

The UNWTO points out the scale of tourism by means of

the Hawaiian economy depended deeply on the U.S. and＊長崎県立大学経済学研究科修士課程
長崎県立大学地域創造学部講師

†

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長崎県立大学東アジア研究所『東アジア評論』
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Figure 1 Share of the tertiary industry (Japan and U.S.)

The figure creates to us from Watanabe, 2000.

Figure 2 Change in the number of tourists in the state of Hawaii from 1966 to 2014

http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/reports/annual-visitor-research/Hawaii State Department of
Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Tourism Research Branch, Annual Visitor Research Report;
Hawaii Tourism Authority, Tourism Research (2016/1/27)−７
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Tourism Development and Environmental Problems on Hawaii in the late 20th Century

Figure 3 Economic growth rate (U.S.)

Figure 4 Economic growth rate (Japan)

The data shows that how much growth does GDP compared with Year-on-Year
Economic growth rate = (this year’s GDP-last year’s GDP) ÷ last year’s GDP × 100 (IMF-World Economic Outlook
database 2015)
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2015/01/weodata/index.aspx（２
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Japanese economic trends. We can assume that the tourism

tourism industry estimates this number at 1.8 billion in 2030.

industry in Hawaii is a mirror of American and Japanese

In other words, the tourism industry is for the foreseeablebusiness fluctuations.

future considered as one of prosperous growth. This paper
focuses on some of the economic and historical factors as

2. 3. Background to the tourism industry’s growthbackground to such growth. According to a recent mass

According to the UNWTO, the number of international

tourism study, American people recieved more paid leave andtourists consistently increased to 1.1 billion in 2014, and themore free time after WW II３ and as such had more “time” to−７
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travel. Further, American enjoyed economic affluence andbeen attracted to Hawaii６, leading to its status as one of thestable economic growth after WW II, a mass middle classmost popular tourist destinations. Recently, the number of

appeared; as such, they had “money” to travel. Ford mass-

tourists to Hawaii amounted to 7 million per a year with mostproduced the automobile since the 1950’s and the jumbo jet

visitors from the U.S. and Japan (see Figure 6). Thiswas introduced into international tourism during the 1970’s.

description shows that U.S. and Japanese economics decide

The people have experienced a transportation revolution, thatthe Hawaiian economic fate.

is, they had a “means” to travel. We conclude that the success3. 2. Relationship between the mass consumption society andof mass tourism is based on the establishment of a mass

tourism growth

consumption society during the 1950’s. Consequently, people
４

can travel further, longer, and more luxurious .

Hayato Yamanaka, one of the foremost Japanese
authorities on Hawaiian history, points out that Hawaii has

2. 4. Tourism research results

been developed as a visitor destination since the early 1900’s７.

Tourism is still a developing academic field. In 1974, theHowever, this quantitative index indicates that the Hawaiian

Annual of tourism was published as the first academic journal.

tourism industry has experienced rapid growth since theFollowing this, the International Academy for the Study ofsecond half of the 20th century, thus becoming a mass tourism

Tourism was established in 1988 as a representative

destination.

international society in the tourism study field. This implies

As mentioned above, Hawaii is a symbolic place inthat we did not have handbooks for tourism research forwhich mass tourism keeps pace with the rise of the mass

extended period of time. This situation has changed sinceconsumption society. We must consider historical factors when

2000. Handbooks of varying reputation could be found, such

we study the tourism industry of Hawaii famous destination.

as A Companion to Tourism and The Routledge Handbook of

The U.S. and Japan−two economic powers in the pacificTourism and the Environment. These handbooks indicate that

region−have experienced great economic growth in the

tourism study is an interdisciplinary field. For instance,

1970’s. Especially, Japanese tourists have visited Hawaii after“environmental impacts and sustainability” became very

high economic growth in the 1960’s, leading Japanese people

significant keywords on the study field. However historicalhave become major customer of Hawaii. In addition, theresearch has not played an important role in the this fields. It

technical development and commercialization of the jumbo jet

is expected that the study of historical standpoints would lead

during the 1970’s promoted mass tourism over the world.

５

to criticize the current status of tourism study .

More people could travel to further destination during the1970’s, leading to the worldwide spread of mass tourism８.
Environmental problems have gradually become more

3. Hawaii as tourism destination

serious since the 1970’s. The plastic-products problem should

3. 1. Location of Hawaii

be mentioned here, due to cheap mass production that

Why did this paper select Maui (Hawaii) as researchsignificantly influenced the environment. Many tourists have

object? Figure 5 illustrates the location of Hawaii in the centercreated significant amounts of waste, such as beverage, sunof the Pacific Ocean− a journey of about nine hours from theoil, and other container. This increased waste has impacted on

US and Japan by air. Many people in the Pacific region havethe quality of life in Hawaii, where it is important for resort−８０−Tourism Development and Environmental Problems on Hawaii in the late 20th Century

Figure 5 Location of Hawaii

MAP 6. Copy of an early map of Hawai’i as the “Crossroads of the Pacific” by the Hawaii Promotion
Committee in the journal devoted to Hawaiian tourist interest. Paradise of the Pacific 15, no, 12 (1992)

Figure 6 The number of tourist arrivals in the state of Hawaii

Source: Adapted from Annual Visitor Research, 2014−８１−

長崎県立大学東アジア研究所『東アジア評論』
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destinations to continue protecting the beautiful sea.

destinations need “the shining sun”, “a comfortable climate”,

While Hawaii continuously faces waste problems, resort“the beautiful sea”, and “limited rain” in order to satisfy theirdestinations have many environmental concerns. Besides

travellers. Table 1 shows the average temperature andgarbage, water shortage is one of their most serious problems,

precipitation in Honolulu. How much water is used per day?

since this impacts on the environment as well as theJapan’s domestic water usage per capita is about 313!. In

community.

contrast, consumption is estimated in the range of 2000 to
10000! in resort destinations. The data in Table 2 show that

3. 3. Tourism development and the water problem

industrial water usage is about 30 times more than general

Most of the resort destinations are located in arid limited

waste, which implies resort destinations have a potential
dilemma with water consumption９.

rainfall regions with water shortages. Generally, the tourism
industry consumes water more wastefully than other

3. 4. The case study of Mauiindustries.

Maui Island has experienced a serious water shortage

According to Blackford, most of the famous resort

Tabel 1 Average temperature and precipitation in Honolulu
month

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Average hightemperature (℃)

26.7

26.9

27.6

28.2

29.3

30.3

30.8

31.5

31.4

30.5

28.9

27.3

Average lowtemperature (℃)

18.7

18.6

19.6

20.4

21.3

22.3

23.1

23.4

23.1

22.4

21.3

19.4

A monthly
precipitation (mm)

90.2

56.1

55.9

39.1

28.7

12.7

15

11.2

19.8

57.9

76.2

96.5

Precipitation days
(day)

7

5.2

6

5.2

3.3

2.1

2.9

2.6

3.5

4.6

6.1

6.9

30 years average precipitation (from 1961 to 1990)
Source: Created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) https://public.wmo.int/en (2016/7/28)

Table 2
Water Use Category

Liters per tourist per day

Accomodation (Direct)

84〜200

Activities (Direct)

10〜3

Fossil fuels (Indirect)

90 (a)

Biofuels (Indirect)

7500 (b)Food (Indirect)

2000〜500

Total

estimated range:2000〜1000(a)an average of 120 km/day (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO,2008) (b)use of 40 km/l and 120 km/day
Created byGossling, S.,/ Peeters, P./ Hall, C. M./ Ceron, J. P./ Dubois, G./ Lehmann, L. V./
Scott, D., 2012, “Tourism and water use: supply, demand, and security. An international
review. “, In: Tourism Management 33(1), pp.1-15.

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Tourism Development and Environmental Problems on Hawaii in the late 20th Century

problem since the 1970’s. Because of the high reliance onground water, the situation continued during the 1990’s. The

Acknowledgements

Island has experienced multiple droughts due to the pressureThis paper is a revision of the contents presented at the 5thplaces on water consumption by tourism and climate change.

Forum for East Asian Academic Exchange (November 6, 2015

The Maui county council has been facing the problem thatat the International Center, University of Dong-A Bumin

tourism development is limited by the amount of waterCampus, Busan, Korea). The authors are grateful for the

consumption, which is still unsolved. Therefore, they haveopportunity to present this paper.

been caught up in a dilemma of choosing between economic

The authors are especially grateful to Professor Mr.

growth and environmental sustainability. In this regard, Maui

Yutaka Yamamoto, University of NAGASAKI, for his

is a “Fragile Paradise”.

cooperation with respect to this research.

4. Conclusion
This paper confirmed the development of tourism sincethe 1960’s and the importance of Hawaii as tourism
destination, where serious water problems became known. The
tourism industry has various negative impacts on theenvironment and the community. Especially, the resort
destination has changed into a fragile paradise. Unfortunately,
this paper could not be reflect in detail on the effects of the
tourism industry on environment; tourism’s negative impacts
are discussed in detail in another article.

Center materials on this paper
Refer to our historical center materials for this research.
This paper analyzes the Maui News articles. Because Mansel,
G. Blackford who is authority of Hawaiian tourism history,
has recommended summary information about the tourism
industry, the environment, and the community. Further, he has
researched the Maui tourism development from a standpointof environmental impact. This paper was therefore much
enlightened by his research. We adopted his method and tried
to analyze the water problems mainly from the Maui News.

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Tourism Development and Environmental Problems on Hawaii in the late 20th Century

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