Travel & Tourism

Hawaii’s travel and tourism industry is the state’s largest economic driver and a cornerstone of community livelihoods. This pillar advances policies that strengthen the visitor economy by modernizing operations, supporting workforce and technology adoption, improving sustainability outcomes, and ensuring tourism remains competitive, resilient, and beneficial to local communities statewide.

Our Mission

To strengthen Hawaii’s visitor economy through smart policy, technology enablement, and voluntary sustainability investments that support locally owned businesses, enhance visitor experiences, reduce costs, and ensure long-term competitiveness while protecting the state’s natural, cultural, and community resources.

The Chamber advances sustainable and resilient visitor economy strategies through infrastructure modernization, matching grants, energy and water efficiency initiatives, and climate resilience projects. Programs prioritize measurable environmental outcomes while strengthening Hawaii’s global tourism competitiveness.

Sustainability projects generate local construction and technical jobs while reducing operating costs for visitor-serving businesses. Public funds leverage private investment for maximum impact. Broader benefits include improved visitor experiences, reduced environmental impact, and a resilient, globally competitive tourism sector.

Our Purpose

The Travel & Tourism Policy Committee supports the goals of the 2030 Blueprint for Hawaii by:

Supporting technology and AI adoption to improve efficiency, forecasting, visitor flow management, and global market access for tourism businesses.
Advancing voluntary, outcome-driven sustainability investments that reduce operational costs while protecting Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources.
Streamlining permitting and administrative processes to improve business certainty, resilience, and long-term competitiveness across the visitor industry.
Encouraging value-driven tourism that strengthens resident–visitor relationships and supports community well-being rather than volume-based growth.
Strengthening local ownership and workforce stability so visitor spending remains rooted in Hawaii’s communities.

Travel & Tourism Scorecard

Our Vision

A resilient, modern visitor economy that delivers high-value experiences, supports local businesses and workers, protects Hawai‘i’s resources, and ensures tourism contributes positively to communities for generations.

Policy Committee Focus Areas

TECHNOLOGY ENABLEMENT

Supports funding and policy incentives that help locally owned tourism businesses adopt digital and AI-enabled tools, improve efficiency, manage visitor flows, expand global market access, and strengthen community-based ownership across Hawaii.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM INVESTMENT

Advances voluntary, outcome-driven sustainability investments through matching grants supported by the Green Fee, helping tourism businesses reduce costs, protect natural and cultural resources, and enhance long-term resilience without imposing new mandates.

TRADE-READY CAPACITY

Promotes competitive, performance-based grants that expand manufacturing and production capacity, support automation and facility upgrades, and leverage private-sector matching funds to strengthen Hawaii’s trade competitiveness and near-term economic returns.

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Reach out

Contact us if you want to know more about or get involved with legislative action, advocacy events or the 2030 Blueprint.