The Dark Side of Paradise | Hawaii’s Tourism Overhaul

Hawaii’s tourism industry is changing fast, and it’s sparking big fights about freedom and government control over local businesses. In July 2025, Governor Josh Green asked all 12 Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) board members to quit. The newly signed Senate Bill 1571 turns the board into an advisory group, puts a CEO in charge, and focuses on “green” tourism. This plan has some good parts, but mostly hurts Hawaii’s people and overall economy. 

What’s Going On with HTA?

The HTA has been costing us a lot. Hawaii News Now and Honolulu Civil Beat reported huge blunders: 

• a $482,000 penalty for late payments

• an $80,000 overspend on a Los Angeles Rams deal

• a $780,000 interest charge for delayed bills

• Workers quit, fights broke out, and a toxic workplace took over.

• HTA bosses ignored the Hawaii Convention Center’s roof to punish whistleblower Isaac Choy, who exposed their bad deals, costing $100 million to fix and losing millions in bookings.

HTA is now controlled by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT):

• The board only gives advice, with no real power.

• A CEO makes all decisions—hiring, spending, contracts—and answers only to the governor.

• Tourism shifts to “regenerative” visitors: eco-friendly, rich travelers, over big crowds.

On July 3, 2025, Governor Josh Green successfully requested that all board members resign to start fresh with a greener, less messy HTA. But this plan fails libertarian values like freedom and small government, with lawmakers backing the call to action shortly after. 

The Libertarian View: One Win, Big Losses

Our aim is for a tiny government, free choices, and markets without meddling. Here’s how HTA’s changes stack up with liberty-centric principles:

The Win: Less Board Power

Cutting the board’s power is a good move. They blew a $63 million budget on bad decisions with no proper oversight mechanisms. These board removals could mean less money down the drain. Tourism should pay for its ads, not use taxpayer cash, and less board power could stop insiders from giving deals to friends.

The Loss: Too Much CEO Control

The plan gives all power to the CEO and the governor. The CEO decides everything—hiring, contracts, spending—and only talks to the governor, not the public. The board’s advice doesn’t matter. One or two people in charge lead to corruption, like giving jobs to buddies or hiding bad moves. This obliterates the possibility of checks and balances. The old board had open meetings and Senate-approved members. Now, the CEO and governor act in secret, ignoring the people. Locals have no say. The government must serve us, not unilaterally boss us around.

This tourism plan crushes small businesses and freedom. HTA wants fewer, richer visitors, which helps fancy eco-hotels but kills local shops, restaurants, and markets that need all the tourists they can get. Total visitor arrivals are projected to decline by 4% over the next two years, with a $1.6 billion reduction in real visitor spending by 2026. This will only get worse, bankrupting small businesses. 

New rules are only going to exacerbate the problem. The Transient Accommodations Tax will add 0.75% to the daily room rate tax starting Jan. 1. Green said this amounts to an extra $3 tax on a $400 hotel room rate. It also levies a new 11% tax on cruise ship bills starting July 2026, prorated for the number of days the vessels are in Hawaii ports, to bring cruise ship taxes in line with room taxes on land. Together with other state and county taxes, visitors will pay a nearly 19% levy on their accommodations, one of the highest rates in the country (source). This favors big hotels, not locals. This is the government picking its victors. Such taxes and rules raise prices and kill jobs.

What’s at Risk for Locals?

HTA’s changes follow the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan for a greener, less tourism-heavy economy by 2050 (State of Hawaii Office of Planning). Forcing businesses to be “sustainable” with taxes and rules is wrong. Libertarians want businesses to choose green practices to attract customers, not to comply with state orders.

Tourism is Hawaii’s economic powerhouse, encompassing 216,000 jobs and $17.8 billion in spending (Source). Visitors spent $245.70 daily in 2024 (2024 HTA Report), but fewer tourists will slash this cash, killing small businesses. The CEO-governor setup lets a few insiders control major portions of the Hawaiian industry. This will only end up serving big companies over local stores. The government should not control tourism. Let businesses and their patrons decide what works for them.  

Hawaii’s HTA changes could have freed people, but they instead locked up power with a single CEO and the governor. This hurts businesses, hides decisions, and wrecks the economy. It’s time to end HTA and let tourism pay for itself; however, it naturally will. Hawaii needs freedom, not government control.