When John de Vries’ mother attended high school in the 1940s, she was forbidden to dance the hula and speak the language of her ancestors, Hawaiian. It was intended for children of ancestral ancestry, but instead of encouraging the students to embrace that legacy, they tried to erase it.
“That whole generation was a byproduct of this radical Americanization, Westernization,” de Vries recently recalled. “Ironically, 51 years later, my mother’s great-grandson graduated from the same school. rice field.”
In September 2020, when Hawaii’s tourism industry plummeted due to the pandemic, De Fries took over the top tourism role in his home state, becoming the first Native Hawaiian to hold the position. As president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, he now has the responsibility of supporting the industry before the pandemic. brought in It has $2 billion in state tax revenue and employs over 200,000 people.
Mr de Vries told me when I video-call him at his home on the Big Island that the position he holds is in flux these days. A few years ago, HTA’s primary job was to brand Hawaii and market the island to potential visitors. The agency still does these things, but more recently its official mandate has expanded to include natural resources, communities, and Hawaiian culture.
During the conversation, 71-year-old De Fries shared how the lessons he learned as a kid in Waikiki apply to his work, how he feels when Hawaii is devoid of tourists, and what the TV show is about. I explained why I was hooked. White Lotus” will be held in Hawaii.
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
You grew up in Waikiki in the 1950s. How does that experience affect your work?
I was born and raised two blocks from Waikiki Beach, half a block from the Honolulu Zoo, and literally about 2,000 yards from the base of Diamond Head. The waters there have been my family’s fishing grounds since a century before I was born, and when I was growing up we fished every week. Waikiki was first a source of food, then a source of medicines from seaweed and sea urchins, and later a place of recreation and well-being. : food, medicine, recreation. But in developing Waikiki, we reversed that order and put recreation first.
So when we think about creating a revitalized model of tourism, we need to go back to the lessons we were learning then. When we think about the future and the opportunities of tourism, we can’t do it in a large scale way without developing a 21st century version of thinking. Not everyone in the industry is ready for it, but I don’t think we have a choice.
Has the pandemic changed local attitudes towards tourists in Hawaii?
The number of visitors in 2019 was a record 10.4 million. And six months later, in July 2020, the number of visitors was close to zero. I remember standing on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki one night at 9pm. It felt like a movie set, frankly — spooky. An economic collapse of that magnitude is like a large building collapsing, with people trapped under it. people are hurting.
But at the same time, it was happy for the community, right? No traffic. There are no crowds on the beach. Beach park is open. The forest road was open. And the locals felt like we had our island back. But I also knew it was the equivalent of a sugar high. Because there was this huge amount of work we had to do to rebuild this system.
So how can we reshape tourism in a way that works for everyone?
Each island develops its own action plan, so the answer to that question will be island-specific. The committees that developed these plans were very diverse and may have included restaurant owners, school teachers, hotel owners, and so on. The overall intention of that planning process was to give communities the opportunity to co-design and co-define what a sustainable tourism model would look like. One would think that having a visitor would be enough. Also, some would say you can redo 10 million. So there’s that tension in that discussion, but there’s also an agreement to be open-minded and polite in the discussion.
“white lotus” The TV show, set in a fictional Hawaiian resort, has been getting a lot of attention lately. Have you seen the show?
I watched the first episode and thought, ‘This is completely ridiculous. And I couldn’t stop watching it. My wife and I fell in love with it because it’s close to some of the experiences I’ve had. I thought they did a great job as I fully understood that there was a creative license involved. Realizing that the culture is marginalized, we ask, “Why is this happening?” These are the alarm bells that have been ringing here for quite some time. There is no end to the debate about how to provide an authentic cultural experience and build your capacity to bring financial benefits to yourself and your family.
How do you create a cultural experience for tourists that doesn’t feel exploited?
People need to feel valued for their cultural identity and way of life. I am optimistic about it. Because we believe the market will drive this change. Culture cannot be faked. You can try, but you won’t succeed. So when the market starts looking for a more authentic cultural experience, it starts to make commercial sense. Commercial drivers are very important for migrating systems of this scale.
What message would you like to convey to visitors to Hawaii?
As you know, locals have a responsibility to greet visitors in an appropriate manner. Conversely, it is the visitor’s responsibility to realize that the destination is someone’s home, someone’s neighborhood, someone’s community. By approaching the trip in this way, both visitors and locals can have a better experience, so please keep this in mind. And enjoy a Mai Tai at sunset! don’t forget that.
Paige McClanahanis a regular contributor to the travel section and is also the host of: better travel podcasts.
