Kauai, Tourism, and the Way We Travel

I’m writing this at the airport in Kauai after a family trip that was supposed to be mostly about getting away for a few days. Kauai is beautiful. We had a great time together. But I also realized pretty quickly that after years of working in tourism, I don’t really know how to visit a place without thinking about what tourism is doing to it.

That is not meant as some grand statement about Hawaii after one vacation. I was a tourist too. I stayed in the same lodging, used the same roads and bought the same things everyone else does. But there were details I kept noticing: workers talking about long commutes, signs about staffing shortages, the cost of basic things, and the amount of land and housing tied up in resorts, vacation rentals and outside wealth.

It made it hard for me to look at the beaches and mountains without also wondering what it is like to live here year-round. A place can be extraordinary for visitors and still be under enormous pressure for the people who call it home. Both things can be true.

I thought a lot about this because my own work depends on people traveling. I run music and cultural trips, and I am obviously not going to pretend tourism is harmless just because I try to do it differently. Travelers use resources, change neighborhoods and bring money and expectations into places that were not built for us.

What I can control is how I design the trips I am involved with: smaller groups, local guides and musicians, locally owned businesses when possible, and experiences where the people sharing the culture are actually part of the economic exchange. That does not solve every problem, but it is better than treating a destination like scenery.

Kauai reminded me that the uncomfortable part of travel is worth paying attention to. If a place gives us beauty, music, food or a memory with our family, we should at least be curious about what our presence costs and who benefits from it.

I don’t know when I’ll be back. I loved being there, and that is exactly why I left thinking about it so much.