Management by Cultural Values - Hawaii Tourism Strategy - Case Study Example

Management by Cultural Values - Hawaii Tourism Strategy Table of Contents Introduction 1 Reviving culture and presenting it to tourists 2 Integrating culture into tourism 4 Conclusion 7 References: 9 Introduction Nowadays a lot of importance is being attached to sustainable tourism and this is especially important as tourists and the locals should feel an ardent need to protect and preserve the ecological resources. This is especially true for islands like Hawaii which accredits a maximum proportion of its revenue to tourism. One of the ways to attain sustainable tourism is to exchange important data between the stakeholders. In fact the stakeholders and the local community should be made to support and participate in protecting tourism and especially aim for sustainable tourism. One of the new ways to attain this is by integrating the local culture along with tourism. The Hawaii strategic tourism plan from 2005 – 2015 has conducted a SWOT analysis, identified the critical issues and have accordingly formulated certain goals and objectives which needs to be fulfilled. It has set itself a vision which integrates the Hawaiian culture into the tourism program wherein the key focus will be to respect the enriched cultural heritage of Hawaii. In fact they have emphasized on valuing the cultural and natural resources of this state. The Hawaii Tourism Authority will try and integrate culture into tourism to provide its visitors an enriching experience. For maximum cultural visitors, a historic or a cultural event is one of the main reasons in making the choice of a destination. In fact there are again a niche population whose primary focus in choosing a tourist place is to visit and participate in a particular cultural activity (Oh, Kim and Shin, 2004). Hence, one of the critical ways to attract more tourists in a particular destination is by portraying the rich cultural heritage which can be achieved by conducting cultural events and celebrating important historical events. This attracts visitors who spend a lot of money by spending on lodging and boarding, entertainment, shopping and food other than attending the cultural festival which becomes the main reason for visiting a certain tourist destination. Reviving culture and presenting it to tourists The Hawaiian culture was made and further presented to tourists for their own benefit. However, this has led to a feeling of identity for the Hawaii people. But, this cannot be attributed to an outcome of mass tourism. In fact, maintaining a contact for more than half or about a century has resulted in people from outside coming in to visit this island state. During the contact period, the chieftains in Hawaii eagerly adapted the means and paths of foreigners and this led to slow destruction and deconstruction of Hawaiian culture. In the recent world, maximum natives from Hawaii have broken off from their own land and the rural like which represented their rich cultural heritage. In fact, they live in the city and most work as daily laborers. The last one and a half decade saw resurgence in the rich and exotic culture of the Hawaiians with special reference to Hawaiian language. There are only a handful of people who can fluently converse in this language. Also traditional norms like incantations, hula and weaving have been placed special emphasis by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. In order to better define the identity of the natives of Hawaii, nationalist leaders have cited early details mostly provided by foreigners, detailed manuscripts written by elderly informants and the scholarly treatise of the 19th century Hawaii people. The compiled outcome of this depicts the culture of Hawaii as a diverse one and has no correspondence to a particular era. The nationalists of this island state also cater to the rural communities in Hawaii in order to get insight on the genuine cultural models. In order to facilitate partnerships there has been the establishment of subsistence communities in the far flung localities in this island state. According to some nationalist leaders, this will facilitate in trying to attract native Hawaiians towards their motherland. However tourism has a totally different perspective. It is not limited to people dwelling in the city or those who are linked with the tourism industry. Most rural regions have access to mass communication. Both city dwellers and the national leaders of Hawaii share similar opinion and view the life of the rural people to be harmonious and pristine. They both are interested and try to live up to a replica of Hawaiianness. However, one cannot conclude that the rural and nationalist replicas depicting Hawaiian culture are similar to those promoted by the tourism sector in Hawaii. But the tourism industry models are neither alienated from these models. In fact, integrating culture with tourism, enable to garner a dissimilar self consciousness especially when it approaches the replicas of the native culture in Hawaii. Finally, the end result is not for acculturation but the contribution and involvement of the native Hawaiians in marketing and promoting their own cultural model (Cultural Survival, 2010). Integrating culture into tourism The strategic tourism plan of the Hawaii Tourism Authority focused on reviving the cultural heritage of this island body. This was done by means of various acts like the hula and the ancient chants. However there has been an insensitive and inaccurate description of Hawaiian culture, values and sites by advertising and travel articles and this has led to representing a negative image of this island destination. In order to remove these misconceptions from the minds of the general public, the Hawaiian Tourism Authority has circulated ‘Style and Resource Guide’. This guide serves as a reference and is aimed to promote the culture of Hawaii and portray this island state by clarifying facts about the culture of Hawaii and its various tourism sites for visitors. It seeks to explain the general public and tourists the common Hawaiian words and their connotations, the various sites in Hawaii and Hawaiian alphabet and language. The guide also gives a bibliography for educational materials and books portraying Hawaii as a tourist destination and the culture of Hawaii. The focal point of cultural tourism should portray to provide tourists and potential visitors exactly the thing they are looking for while visiting a particular tourist destination. Certain goals and missions were set in order to integrate Hawaiian culture and tourism. The measures of success have suggested that certain amount of work has been done in integrating culture and tourism. However, these measures are not enough. Most visitors have a biased image of this tourist destination and this is attributable to the source. It is very strange that most tourists do not rely on the media and print information available on Hawaii tourism. Also most tourists do not opt for package tours and prefer to travel with their family and/or friends. In fact most tourists have maintained that they do not get an idea about Hawaiian music, especially in Waikiki. Despite, all these issues, tourists are satisfied with their visits in Hawaii. Efforts in promoting tourism should concentrate on portraying the Hawaiian culture. One way to do this is to provide the authentic Hawaiian culture to tourists. These aspects need to be expanded in Hawaii and especially in Waikiki. An effort should be taken to foster and promote authentic Hawaiian music. A lot of street plays are undertaken in Waikiki which is actually not a reflection of Hawaiian culture. Instead, concerts should be organized taking into account Hawaiian musicians, so that tourists get a feel of the Hawaiian culture. Other tasks, like preparing genuine Hawaiian crafts should be undertaken in the form of workshops. Another way of integrating Hawaiian culture and tourism is by allowing local Hawaii people to mix up with the tourists and educate them on the values and cultures of Hawaii. In order to achieve this lot of joint endeavors should be undertaken by the tourism bodies, natives of Hawaii and the community as a whole (Agrusa et al. 2010). One of the new cultural attractions for potential tourists would be to have a true depiction of a Hawaiian village in the island of Waikiki in Hawaii. In this village craft making or lei could be offered to visitors which could be done by means of organizing workshops in the village in Waikiki. In fact the Polynesian Cultural Centre offers these workshops. However opening similar workshops in Waikiki will attract more tourists in this area. Also the native people of Hawaii can speak to the visitors and educate them about the rich culture of Hawaii. This could include imparting knowledge about basic norms and values followed by Hawaiian people. This is one way in which the visitors’ interests would be stimulated and hence it would help in reducing the gap between the tourists and the native people of Hawaii. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is making a lot of efforts to attain the pre established objectives and goals in preserving the island’s natural resources including the pristine beaches. In order to attain this goal, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has partnered with Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA). The tourism body is now has commenced accepting requests for the HTA’s Kukulu Ola - Natural Resources Program and the Living Hawaiian Culture Program (HTA LHCP). In fact the Hawaii Tourism Authority has sanctioned an amount of USD 1.4 million in the year 2011 in order to promote these programs to protect the natural resources and at the same time increase awareness about the preserving the ecology of the island destination. Locals of the state are being requested to take part in training and technical support in order to explain the goals of this program. In a recent statement, the Hawaiian Tourism Authority declared that in a bid to promote the rich Hawaiian culture, it will support and encourage around 29 community based schemes by means of its Living Hawaiian Cultural Program – Kukula Ola (Pacific Business News, 2011). The Kukula Ola program of the Hawaiian Tourism Authority supports and provides funds for proposals in order to strengthen perpetuate and enhance the Hawaiian culture. In fact, this program is one of the important initiatives of the Hawaii Tourism Strategic Plan 2005 – 2015 (Global Travel Industry News, 2008). Conclusion Hawaii had suffered a severe setback in tourism following the 9/11 attacks in America and the recent recession that rocked the world. However, this small island is fast rebounding and in the year 2011 around 7.3 million tourists have come to Hawaii. Hawaii Tourism Officials are expecting more and more tourists to visit this place and maintains that they will be able to catch up with the record visitors in the year 2006 soon. In fact Hawaii Tourism Authority is promoting Hawaii as a culture tourism destination to developed nations having rising economies and has successfully got more visitors. To list a few, in the year 2011 Australian tourists displayed a rise of 32 percent, China showed an increase in 30 percent, and Brazil, 7 percent rise as compared with the year 2010. Recent tourists visiting Hawaii have maintained that they have seen an increase in the number of international tourists. They also said that the host community especially bellhops, waiters and other tourism workers have expressed their gratitude to find more tourists to the Hawaiian Islands. To conclude, the Hawaii Tourism Authority is doing all its best in order to promote a sustainable cultural tourism in Hawaii and is following the below mentioned path to attain goals and missions: 1) Key importance is on ethics by means of which it is showing people to respect Hawaiian culture, traditional life process, economy, political patterns and environment in Hawaii. 2) Involvement of local communities and relevant stakeholders. 3) Planning and managing tourism with the view to protecting and conserving the natural environment 4) The planning should be done in a way so that it integrates other economic segments along with tourism 5) Continuous monitoring and evaluation to find out the status and commence action in order to counter adverse effects (Cox et al. 2008). References: Agrusa, W., Lema, J., Tanner, J., Host, T. & Agrusa, J. (2010). Integrating sustainability and Hawaiian culture into the tourism experience of the Hawaiian Islands, PASOS, 8(2), 247 – 264. Cox, L.J., Saucier, M., Cusick, J., Richins, H. & McClure, B. (2008). Achieving sustainable tourism in Hawaii: using a sustainability evaluation system. Resource Management, 17, 1 – 6. Cultural Survival. (2010). Selling Hawaiian culture. Retrieved March 19, 2012 from http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/selling-hawaiian-culture Global Travel Industry News. (2008). ‘Hawaii Tourism Authority to fund projects that perpetuate Hawaiian culture. Retrieved March 19, 2012 from http://www.eturbonews.com/3229/hawaii-tourism-authority-fund-projects-perpet Oh., H., Kim, B. & Shin, J. (2004). Hospitality and tourism marketing: recent developments in research and future directions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 23, 425 – 477. Pacific Business News (2011). HTA gives to Hawaiian cultural programs. Retrieved March 17, 2012 from http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2011/03/02/hta-gives-to-hawaiian-culture-programs.html?page=2 Read More