Objectives
The project has seven main objectives:
1. Examine sustainable tourism development in Hawai`i based on various scenarios that consider the quality of life of residents and the quality of the visitor experience.
2. Effectively include input from residents through a public involvement and peer-review study component.
3. Define requirements, responses, and limiting factors for key natural resources and physical infrastructure.
4. Identify mitigating measures or technological changes that can be taken to avoid or negate the limiting factors.
5. Identify relationships that link the impact of visitors and residents on infrastructure, the environment and the economy, as well as inter-linkages between the infrastructure, the environment and the economy.
6. Develop an analytical tool (a computer model) for objective assessment and projection of the outcomes of different scenarios, including different levels of visitor growth and uses of alternative mitigating measures.
7. Develop a tool to conduct policy analysis and planning for sustainable tourism with particular emphasis on the role of economic planning.
Project Area
The study will look at statewide issues and also focus on the four most populated Hawaiian Islands, where the bulk of visitor activity occurs: O`ahu, Hawai`i, Maui, and Kaua`i. The two other populated islands – Lana`i and Moloka`i – will be included to the degree that data permit.
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