Americas · Island & archipelago
Hawaiʻi
US island state where a 2026 lodging-tax increase, the Green Fee, is meant to fund conservation, climate resilience and tourism management.
Hawaiʻi received 9.64 million visitors in 2025, against 10.4 million in 2019, and visitors spent US$21.75 billion 1. In recent years the policy argument has been over how to move the state's tourism institutions from promoting the islands to managing the effects of visitors on residents, land and water 2. Two strands of that shift are visible. The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) adopted a 2020–2025 strategic plan that placed natural resources, Hawaiian culture and community alongside marketing, and ran island destination management action plans and the Mālama Hawaiʻi volunteer campaign 345. And since 1 January 2026 the Green Fee — an increase in the transient accommodations tax from 10.25% to 11% — has been meant to pay for conservation, climate resilience and tourism management 67.
The first Green Fee budget, about US$129 million for 91 projects, was signed in June 2026 8. Implementation is under way, the cruise-ship portion is blocked in federal court 9, and no outcomes have yet been reported.
Geography and cultural context
Tourism is the state's largest industry; in 2026 a state senator cited more than US$21.7 billion a year and over 220,000 jobs 10. Before the pandemic, an average of 48,682 Native Hawaiians worked in tourism-intensive industries — 36.5% of Native Hawaiian workers across all industries — according to HTA 11. Resident complaints about crowded trails, beaches and rural roads such as the Hāna Highway grew as arrivals reached a record of about 10 million in 2019 2. The August 2023 Maui wildfires, which killed 102 people and caused about US$13 billion in damage, sharpened the debate over who pays for resilience 12.
Landscape and ecology
Act 96 names native forests, plants and animals among the natural resources the Green Fee is meant to protect and restore, alongside resilience to natural and climate-related disasters 7. The Green Fee Advisory Council's recommendations included more than US$30 million for a community stewardship programme covering reforestation, ridge-to-reef work, invasive species control, Makai Watch groups and dune habitats, and about US$21 million for fire mitigation 6. The enacted budget funds coral reef and ahupuaʻa restoration and wildfire reduction among other items 13. In July 2026 the Department of Land and Natural Resources issued requests for proposals under about US$8 million of Green Fee funding for community projects, including community-based restoration of forests, watersheds, wetlands, anchialine pools and riparian areas 14.
Culture and heritage
HTA's 2020–2025 plan made support for Native Hawaiian culture and community one of its four pillars 3, and in 2021 its then chief executive wrote to a US Senate committee that Native Hawaiians were leading the reimagining of the state's tourism, with the aim of a regenerative tourism model that would empower Native Hawaiians and all of Hawaiʻi's people 11. Access is a live cultural question as visitor fees spread. In 2025 testimony on a bill allowing user fees at designated state parks, the community network Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo supported fees as consistent with constitutional protection of Native Hawaiian rights, while a Native Hawaiian resident objected that the bill did not explicitly exempt Native Hawaiians exercising traditional and customary access 15.
Communities and livelihoods
After the Lahaina fire, the survivors' group Lahaina Strong rallied at the Legislature in January 2024 for converting short-term rentals into long-term housing, local hiring, wetland restoration and a regenerative tourism model led by small businesses; Maui had more than 12,000 short-term rentals at the time, HPR reported 16. The Green Fee Advisory Council included Keoni Kuoha, a Maui community leader, and Carmela Resuma of Kilohana by the Hawaiian Council 17. Resuma has said she hopes a community-led regenerative tourism initiative left out of the 2026 budget will be funded the following year 13. We found no formal position on the Green Fee from Native Hawaiian organisations.
Tourism model and development
HTA, created in 1998, long received a share of the transient accommodations tax; it now depends entirely on general-fund appropriations (US$63 million in fiscal 2026), was placed under the administrative supervision of the state's economic development department in 2024 and, under Act 132 of 2025, has a board with an advisory role 10. Its destination management action plans were drafted by island advisory groups from 2020; a second generation is in preparation, but HTA's plan page reports no outcome data for the first 4. The Green Fee runs separately: the governor must request general funds roughly equal to the new revenue, spent equally on natural resources, hazard resilience, and visitor experience and destination management 7. The Legislature's first allocations included items, such as a cattle slaughterhouse, that the advisory council's chair said would require 'some creative imagination' to fit the law's intent, and the council was set to end its work with the 2026 session 13. Cruise ships were expected to provide about 30% of revenue 6, but that portion has been enjoined pending appeal since 31 December 2025 18.
Initiatives and their evidence
| Initiative | Led by | What it is | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Fee (Act 96, 2025) | State of Hawaiʻi (Governor, Legislature and state departments) | Raised the transient accommodations tax to 11% from 1 January 2026 and requires an equivalent sum of general funds to be spent equally on natural resources, hazard resilience, and visitor experience and destination management. About US$129 million for 91 projects was appropriated in 2026; the cruise-ship portion is enjoined.789 | In progress |
| Green Fee Advisory Council | Office of the Governor | A ten-member volunteer council that reviewed more than 600 applications and recommended 75 projects worth US$126.41 million, with funds for monitoring and a public dashboard.176 | In progress |
| Destination Management Action Plans | Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority with counties and island visitor bureaus | Island-by-island plans drafted by advisory groups from 2020 to address overcrowding and hotspots; a second generation is being prepared. No outcome data published on HTA's plan page.4 | In progress |
| Mālama Hawaiʻi | Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority and Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau | A 2021 campaign inviting visitors to volunteer with nearly 100 partner organisations, with a free hotel night offered at participating properties.5 | In progress |
| Hoʻōla ʻĀina | Department of Land and Natural Resources | Requests for proposals issued in July 2026 under about US$8 million of Green Fee funding for community projects, including community-based restoration of forests, watersheds and wetlands.14 | Announced |
Challenges
- Green Fee money is not ring-fenced, and the Legislature's first allocations included items the advisory council's chair said would require 'some creative imagination' to fit the law's intent.
- Cruise-ship collections, expected to provide about 30% of revenue, are blocked pending a federal appeal.
- HTA's funding and governance have changed repeatedly, leaving its destination-management work dependent on annual appropriations.
- Visitor fees can conflict with Native Hawaiian traditional and customary access where no exemption is written in.
Open questions
- Will the promised monitoring and public dashboard report ecological and community outcomes, not only spending?
- How will the Ninth Circuit rule on the cruise-ship tax, and which projects would be cut if that revenue does not materialise?
- What changed at the hotspots identified in the first-generation destination management action plans?
- How will Native Hawaiian organisations and practitioners take part in selecting and evaluating Green Fee projects now that the advisory council's term has ended?
Further reading
External
Text of Act 96 (2025), Hawaiʻi's Green Fee lawThe statute behind the Green Fee, including how revenue is meant to be spent.
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The business case for regenerative luxury: what the data saysRegenera Luxury's argument, from its own data and examples, that verified regenerative practice can support hotels' pricing, demand and asset value
Sources
- 1Hawaii visitor arrivals end 2025 well below pre-pandemic peak (Honolulu Star-Advertiser) — The Garden Island, 2 February 2026. Media
- 2Hawaii pushes tourism agency to better manage visitor hordes (AP) — The Garden Island, 5 May 2023. Media
- 3Our Strategic Plan (2020–2025) — Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. First-party
- 4Destination Management Action Plans — Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. First-party
- 5Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority launches educational Mālama Hawaiʻi campaign (news release 21-15) — Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, 1 June 2021. First-party
- 6With $130M in new green fees expected, Hawaiʻi eyes 75 projects to address a long list of environment-related needs — Maui Now, 3 February 2026. Media
- 7Act 96, Session Laws of Hawaiʻi 2025 (S.B. No. 1396) — Hawaiʻi State Legislature, 27 May 2025. Government
- 8Gov. Green signs budget and issues intent-to-veto list (news release) — Office of the Governor, State of Hawaiʻi, 26 June 2026. Government
- 9Appellate court halts green fee from being enforced on cruises — The Garden Island, 6 January 2026. Media
- 10Senate halts effort to restore dedicated tourism funding (Honolulu Star-Advertiser) — Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 13 April 2026. Media
- 11Letter from John De Fries, HTA, to the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: 'Native Tourism Economies One Year Later' — US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 11 May 2021. First-party
- 12Minimum wage hike, 'Green fee' tax among Hawaii's new 2026 laws (AP) — Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 1 January 2026. Media
- 13How will Hawaiʻi spend the Green Fee? Some projects are 'head scratchers' — Hawaiʻi Public Radio, 7 May 2026. Media
- 14Requests for proposals issued for $8 million Hoʻōla ʻĀina Green Fee projects — Maui Now, 20 July 2026. Media
- 15Visitor 'green fees' bill passes Hawaii House committees (Honolulu Star-Advertiser) — The Garden Island, 25 March 2025. Media
- 16Lahaina fire survivors rally for housing and sustainable tourism on Legislature's opening day — Hawaiʻi Public Radio, 18 January 2024. Media
- 17Gov. Green announces appointment of Green Fee Advisory Council (news release) — Office of the Governor, State of Hawaiʻi, 22 August 2025. Government
- 18Cruise Lines International Association, Inc. v. Suganuma (Ninth Circuit) — Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Climate Litigation Database. Academic