Frozen in time: The un-sustainable development of the Hawaiian tourism industry and its effects on Indigenous Hawaiian sovereignty.

Keskinen, Henri (2026) Frozen in time: The un-sustainable development of the Hawaiian tourism industry and its effects on Indigenous Hawaiian sovereignty. The NORPAK Review, 1 (1). pp. 75-78.

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Abstract

In February of 2026, the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaiʻi (UHERO), published their report on the economic decline of the Hawaiian Islands. Economists Steven Bond-Smith and Erich Schwartz (2026) base their analysis on the outmigration event, where more residents, especially the Indigenous Kānaka Maoli, move out of Hawaiʻi than are born or move to the island group. According to Bond-Smith and Schwartz, this movement reflects not only Hawaiʻi’s rising cost of living, but also nearly three decades of neglected economic development and weak per-capita growth that have contributed to the state’s economic stagnation. Their report finds that per-capita incomes in Hawaiʻi in 2024 were 5% below the national average, compared with the 1970s, when they were 30% higher than average. Indeed, as Bond-Smith and Schwartz note, Hawaiʻi has begun to resemble regions such as rural Mississippi, Alabama, and upstate New York. (Bond-Smith & Schwartz, 2026, pp. 1–2 & 10–12). As someone studying the Hawaiian tourism industry and its effects on the Kānaka Maoli culture and the overall way of life in the island group, these findings in the 2026 report sadly present few surprises. I see this economic decline as part of the long history of the corporate tourism industry in Hawaiʻi. In this short research summary, I aim to provide historical context as to why this unsustainable development has occurred in Hawaiʻi, based on my ongoing PhD research. The UHERO report correctly points out that the economic decline started in the 1990s, but I see the seeds of cultural erosion starting much earlier (Bond-Smith & Schwartz, 2026).

Item Type:	Article
Publisher’s Statement:	The NORPAK Review is published by the Northern Research, Policy, and Arctic Knowledge Hub (NORPAK) and the Department of Sociology at Northern Arizona University. NORPAK and the Department of Sociology hold membership in the University of the Arctic (UArctic), an international network of universities, research institutes, and organizations engaged in northern and Arctic research and education.
Keywords:	Hawaiʻi, tourism, Indigenous sovereignty, Sustainability, Postcolonialism
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Department/Unit:	Journals > The NORPAK Review
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2026 18:16
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2026 18:16
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6375

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