Tourism in Hawaii

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Introduction Over six million people visits Hawaii every year, which became a major tourist destination. This industry contributes around 10 billion dollars per year to Hawaii economy, so it is one of the biggest funder. This industry is not sustainable enough, so over the years it has changed the landscape of the island with a little consideration for locals and sensitive eco-system. Hawaii is the hosts one of the most various ecosystem in the whole world and the local fauna, flora suffer from many negative factors caused by tourism industry. Development of infrastructure plays the main role in environmental devastation. “From 1985 to 2010 the number of hotel rooms has been forecasted to double from 65thousands to 132thousands and 2” (Lukasz Darowski et al. 1). The materials and energy required for this development has a huge impact on the environment. According to a biologist Hawaii survey done by Bishop Museum around 60% species are already endangered. Some actions were taken, the government has introduced management policies and new laws regarding this issue, but they are ineffective because they lack the manpower and capital. The enlargement of the tourism industry and development of Hawaii is making local people to struggle in trying to save their native culture. Many culturally important sights were changed with major resorts. For example the Keonaloa case, to build this resort 22 acres of the burial ground was sacrificed, for a construction of a hotel, tennis courts and etc. This devastating of the environmental affects the locals, because it has reduced the places where natives could keep their traditional livelihoods, for example: gathering medicine and food, fishing. Which in time makes harder for them to get by. They are forced to look for other ways to fulfil their basic needs. Globalization Globalization has a negative impact on Hawaii too.
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