Excerpt from civilbeat.org
Anyone wondering if Native Hawaiians are interested in tourism these days could have gotten a good idea this week at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel, where the nonprofit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is holding its annual convention through Friday.
A panel titled “Culture, Tourism and Native Communities” drew so much interest that, as the discussion was about to start, a line of well over a hundred people was spilling out of the packed meeting room. The crowd was so big that organizers had to move the talk to a massive ballroom.
Kuhio Lewis, the council’s chief executive, watched as the throngs filed into the bigger room.
“When was the last time so many Hawaiians were interested in tourism?” Lewis said. “It looks like the whole convention decided to come to this one.”
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