ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2017 – 55
URGING ACTION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM AND RELATED DEVELOPMENT ON NATIVE HAWAIIAN CULTURE AND ʻĀINA TO BENEFIT THE ECONOMY OF HAWAIʻI AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS
WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs passed Resolution 16-12 to assess the state and needs of cultural, traditional knowledge, and intellectual property rights of the Native Hawaiian people and through Resolution 16-12 it recognizes the use of Native Hawaiian cultural, traditional knowledge and intellectual property by the visitor industry for a commercial benefit to that industry; and
WHEREAS, the tourism industry is an important part of the economy of Hawaiʻi; and
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians are directly impacted by the tourism industry, having approximately 16 percent being employed there between 2011 and 2015 and approximately 10 percent of the firms were owned in 2012; and
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian culture and ʻāina is intertwined with Hawaiʻi’s tourism industry; and
WHEREAS, the leading government report on said impact was produced by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism in 2004 named Planning for Sustainable Tourism; and
WHEREAS, that study was unable to clarify the measurable impacts on Native Hawaiian culture and ʻāina stating that it “preclude[ed] a comprehensive impact analysis model employing sophisticated analytical tools and technologies that might meet higher standards of fact-finding.”; and
WHEREAS, it is the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs’s belief that a healthy Hawaiʻi tourism industry is directly related to a flourishing Native Hawaiian culture and ʻāina; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 58th Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington, in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani, this 4th day of November 2017, urging action to better understand the impacts of tourism and related development on Native Hawaiian culture and ʻāina to benefit the economy of Hawaiʻi and Native Hawaiians; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani on the 4th day of November 2017, at the 58th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Seattle, Washington.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
