House Standing Committee on Tourism

Good morning, and aloha, everyone. Thank you for joining us in your committee on tourism 10AM meeting I mean, hearing. My name is Vice Chair Templo. We're joined by Chair Tam, Rep Gideon, and Rep Hussey. Today is Tuesday, 03/31/2026, and we are at Conference Room 423.

Let's begin with our house rules. In order to allow as many people to testify as possible, there'll be a two minute time limit per testifier. Because morning hearings must adjourn prior to noon floor session, not all testifiers may have the opportunity to testify. Please keep yourself muted and your video off while waiting to testify and after the testimony is completed. Zoom chat function will allow you to chat with the technical staff only and to be used for technical issues only.

If you are disconnected unexpectedly, you may attempt to rejoin. And if you are disconnected while presenting, you may be allowed to continue if time permits. In the event of network failure, it may be necessary to reschedule the hearing or schedule a meeting for decision making. Please avoid using any trademark or copyrighted images, and please refrain from profanity or uncivil behavior. With that, first on our agenda, we have HCR 188 and HR 178.

Requesting the Hawaii Tourism Authority to establish an agriculture tourism working group to examine existing laws and ordinances relating to agriculture tourism and provide recommendations to encourage the growth of agriculture tourism in Hawaii. First, we have to testify is the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Riley Yu from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. We stand on our written testimony with support and comments. If you have any questions

Thank you. Second, we have Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Thank you. That is all of our registered testifiers. Anyone else in the room wanting to testify? Anyone on Zoom? Okay.

Members, discussion? Okay. Seeing none, moving on to HCR 51 and HR 47. Urging the Hawaii Tourism Authority to add a stipulation to its signature event program to require 30% of funds awarded through the program to be used to market events to out of state markets. Okay.

First, we have Hawaii Tourism Authority comments. Thank you. That is all of our registered testifiers. Anyone else in the room wanting to testify? Anyone else on Zoom?

Nope? Okay. Members, discussion. Great. Moving on.

Third on the agenda, we have HCR 50 and HR46, requesting the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism to establish a destination management task force. Okay. For our registered testifiers, we have Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism. Here. Okay.

We also have Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. We respectfully oppose this measure and we stand on our testimony.

Thank you.

K. Thank you. Anyone else in the room wanting to testify? Anyone on Zoom? Seeing none, members, questions?

For HTA. I appreciate the efforts on destination management. One of the reasons why I introduced this because I felt like some of our destination management task force that you guys are currently doing is it's siloed by each county. And I think that when it's siloed like that by each county, it limits the opportunity to share information and collaborate with each other. That's why you have one county that's very successful and other counties that are not successful.

Tam?

Can I can we get a commitment from HTA to, you know, unsilo this and to bring, the counties together to share information and turn this into more of a statewide initiative and possibly involve legislators since, you know, we are more closer to the ground in our districts and we understand where the hot spots are?

Yes. Definitely have our commitment to do so.

Okay. Thank you.

Thanks.

Quick question. Yes. Briefly, can you explain how you go about with your DMACCs and your process Sure. Just for the public and for us also?

Okay. Yeah. Sure. So, in the the development of this iteration of our DMAPS, we have established advisory groups for each island. The advisory groups are comprised of members from the community, which represent, you know, visitor industry, cul Hawaiian culture, natural resources, and we also have members from state agencies like DLNR, as well as county, like the office of economic development.

So they work together. For this round of DMACCs, they focused on identifying and prioritizing hot spots. And hot a hot spot is a site, that could become, you know, overcrowded, degradation of natural resources, or, you know, the community is concerned with the impact. And so, you know, it was a process that, again, involves community industry.

We went out to the public having information gathering sessions, you know, so we could really hear, understand where where the pain points for community, and then how can we find solutions to address it.

So it was a all hands on deck effort to see, yeah, how can we make, tourism better for the island and the communities.

Quick question. So on Oahu, I know that thank you for reaching out to all our neighborhood boards. But for the other counties that don't have that type of system, how do you guys go about gathering information?

Yeah. So we held, community meetings around, each of the islands, both in person and virtual. And then also because the advisory group, represents such a diverse group, you know, there are Manao in the discussions were also helpful.

So are you saying that is there some type of different structure that supplements, in taking more information at other counties since there's no neighborhood board system?

We basically follow the same process for all the islands. And, yeah, some of some of the other islands, they did reach out to community groups for further information. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. During any of that process, do you do you coordinate with any of the, like, the district reps?

I know the information was sent out to the legislators, you know, to attend our meetings. And I know some did come to the in person meetings. Yeah.

Okay. Awesome. Yeah. Because usually we're the ones who are getting the

Yeah.

The the emails and the issues for the for the area. I think it'd be valuable information to share with you.

Okay. Yeah. Definitely, we will be reaching out throughout the year to share what we're hearing and then to get your as well.

And thank you for your written testimony as well.

Appreciate that.

Thanks.

Thank you. Any other discussion points members? Okay. Thank you. Moving on to our next measure, HCR 49, urging the executive branch to advance efforts to emerge as a global leader in sustainable tourism that preserves and restores cultural and natural resources, enhances resident quality of life, and ensures high quality visitor experiences.

First to testify, HTA.

We stand on our of written testimony offering comments. Thank you.

Okay. Great. Thank you. That is all that we have for a registered testifier. Anyone else in the room wanting to testify?

Anyone on Zoom? Just wanting to note that we did receive five, testimonies and support from different individuals and the Tara James Young Foundation. Members, any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, we're moving on to our last measure on the agenda, HCR 48, urging the governor to take action to assure all visitors to Hawaii that they will be treated shor- safely, legally, and ethically by all state law enforcement agency upon their arrival and throughout their stay.

We have no registered testifiers on this measure. Anyone in the audience wanting to testify? Anyone on Zoom? Alright. Members, questions, concerns?

Seeing none, we're gonna recess.

Thank you, everyone, again, for joining us at your 10AM, committee on tourism hearing. We are now in decision making. First off, we're voting on HCR 188 and HR 178. Chair's recommendation is to vote this measure out as is.

Members, any questions, concerns? Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Voting on ACR 188. Chair's recommendation is to pass this as is chair and vice chair vote aye. Rep Hassey? Aye. Rep Iligan is excused.

Rep Yamashita? Aye. Rep Gideon. Aye. Chair or vice chair your measure is adopted.

Thank you

Thank you, chair. K. Voting on our next measure, HCR 51 and HR 47.

I'll leave the announcement. Sorry? Oh, and let's take the vote again for this one. Voting on HR 178. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is, Noting the excused absence of Rep.

Ilagan, who will be excused for the rest of the agenda, is there any ayes with reservations? Are there any no votes? Vice chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Thank you, chair. Okay. Moving on. We're voting on HCR 51, urging the Hawaii tourism. ...

Oh, HCR 51 and HR 47, urging the Hawaii tourism authority to add a stipulation to its signature event program to require 30% of funds awarded through the program to be used to market events to out of state markets. Members, discussion? Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Voting on ACR 51 and HR 47. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Members, are there any reservations? Any no votes? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay. No problem. Thank you, chair. We're moving on to HCR 50 and HR 46. At this time, we are going to defer this measure.

Okay. So we're continuing on to HCR 49, urging the executive branch to advance efforts to emerge as a global leader in sustainable tourism that preserves and restores cultural and natural resources, enhances resident quality of life, and ensures high quality visitor experiences. For this measure, we look through HTA's amendments. Thank you very much for providing them. And we're gonna, just urge and, adopt bullet point number four, which is to obtain the certified sustainable destination designation from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

So we're only gonna accept that part of the language and put that into the HCR. ... Members, questions or concerns? Chair?

To clarify, you are amending it so that the measure will only take the recommendation of obtaining the Designation. Designation. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying the amendment. Okay. Any questions, concerns? Okay. Seeing none, vice chair for the vote.

Voting on ACR 49. Chair's recommendation is passed with amendments. Any members voting with reservations? Any no votes? Chair recommendation is adopted.

Okay. Thank you, chair. Appreciate that. Moving on to the last measure on the agenda, HCR 48. The recommendation for this, HCR is to extend efforts also to all counties.

So they also all the mayors ensure that the visitor experience is safe and enjoyable throughout the experience. Members, any discussion? Okay. Chair for the vote, please.

Voting on ACR 48. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Members, are there anyone voting anyone voting with reservations? Any no votes? Seeing none, chair your recommendation is adopted.

Seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.