Measuring the costs and benefits of Windward O‘ahu tourism
Despite plenty of anecdotal evidence about hordes of tourists bringing big bucks – along with traffic and congestion – to Windward O‘ahu, the industry’s costs and benefits have been hard to quantify. Now, researchers at the University of Hawai‘i are gathering hard data on some elusive questions about visitors to Kailua, Lanikai and Waimānalo. These include baseline numbers on visitors to the area, their impact on things like infrastructure and beaches and residents’ perceptions of the large numbers of visitors.
The overarching goal is to assess the overall social, economic and resource impacts, said Dolan Eversole, a researcher with the UH Sea Grant College Program who is the study’s lead investigator. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do: look at the costs and benefits of visitors,” he said. The project is being funded by Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency.
Faculty from the School of Travel Industry Management are playing a major part in the effort, which involves sending out thousands of surveys to residents and conducting interviews with hundreds more visitors and residents at popular Windward beaches and shopping areas.
Read more about it in the Honolulu Civil Beat.