At the recent Newsweek New Destinations travel summit, held in London, Dr. Aaron Salā, CEO of the Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau, spoke about his desire for authentic and sustainable tourism—and also how his state is opposed to the practice of greenwashing.

Greenwashing is a term used to describe the exaggerating of how sustainable a product or practice truly is and has been an issue in tourism for decades.

“Hawaii has a regenerative tourism statute, that tourism itself in Hawaii must be regenerative in nature,” said Salā. “The statute, however, does not define regenerative. And so, we have this challenge and responsibility to look at this rather complex and dynamic terminology. What Hawaii aims to avoid is greenwashing.”

Salā noted to the crowd that he comes from a native Hawaiian perspective, as well as an island worldview, so he feels looking at the entire ecosystem of travel is important.

“It’s not just the one thing, it’s not just the baggage, it’s not just the check in. It is how the entire ecosystem comes together,” he said. “And that entire ecosystem must be regenerative that is genealogically linked, that is understanding the trials and tribulations of the past, how we make the past better usage of innovative technology. Ultimately, regenerative for us has to be in the firmament, in the DNA of the doing of the industry. So that regenerative doesn’t only create an opportunity for advantageous effect on the visitor, it must also create sustainable effect on the environment and the community that that that stands in the foundation of the industry.”

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