
Digitized agriculture form disrupts tourism data
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said the decision was made to initially leave off the questions to start with a simplified form.
Eliminating the tourism questions for the pilot program, which runs from March 1 to May 31, caused the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism to remove its daily passenger counts, a real-time measuring tool that has been available since Sept. 11, 2001. The data gap from the pilot also has left economists and tourism research professionals stumped on how to get enough nuanced information to calculate year-over-year comparisons for the monthly visitor arrivals and spending reports.
Jennifer Chun, DBEDT director of tourism research, estimates that the pilot eliminates tourism questions from all arriving Southwest flights, all American flights, five Alaska flights, one Delta flight, two Hawaiian flights and two United flights—roughly 31 % of scheduled flights and 28.4 % of scheduled air seats.
Paul Brewbaker, principal of TZ Economics, said an interruption to tourism data could have serious repercussions as economists use it to make economic forecasts. Brewbaker added that the Council of Revenues relies on tourism data to figure out how much money is available for the budget. The information also is used in bond ratings, which set the interests rates for government borrowing, he said.
Brewbaker said interrupting Hawaii's tourism data set is problematic when tourism 'accounts for about one-third of the neighbor island economy and 15 % to 20 % of the statewide economy.'
Don 't miss out on what 's happening !
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE !
Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.
'I'm going to go write some papers now that say, 'Here's what the tourism data tell us, and from here on out we'll never know—so this is economic history now.''
The initiative was authorized under Act 196, and has been touted by state leaders, including Gov. Josh Green, Luke and Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor ) as a significant step toward modernizing Hawaii's biosecurity efforts.
Luke worked with legislators, the state Department of Agriculture, airline partners and stakeholders to develop the digital agriculture form pilot program.
'The consensus of all the airlines is that they wanted to start with a simplified form just under the agricultural declaration, and then we have the option to add more stuff as they get better in communication and customer questions, ' Luke said. 'This is kind of the first step, and then we are already having discussions about how do we reintegrate the visitor information.'
Wakai, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, said he started advocating for a digital agricultural form five years ago, and initially was met with resistance, until 2024 when lawmakers passed a law encouraging the migration from paper to an app.
He said ending the in-flight paper agricultural form would save at least $800, 000 annually, but more important, digitization increases completion rates and strengthens protections against invasive species. Passengers typically would complete the digitized form in advance of boarding their flight.
'Compliance for the digitized agricultural form was north of 70 %, and with the paper agricultural form it was 60 %, ' Wakai said. 'Now we are in discussions about how to add the tourism data. We may need to figure out incentives because participation in the tourism questions is voluntary.'
DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said agency received complaints after the pilot began March 1 and the agency removed daily passenger counts from its website.
Tokioka said that he met with Luke and the Department of Agriculture on Friday to try to determine a workaround.
'I was very encouraged by the meeting, ' he said. 'By the middle of next week, we are hoping that we can figure out how to get the passenger count.'
But Chun noted that the drop in collected tourism data goes beyond passenger counts and also affects visitor statistics methodology for the Visitor Satisfaction and Activity report. She said the pilot also could affect de facto population calculations.
Chris Kam, president and chief operating officer of Omnitrak, the current vendor for the in-flight form, said the in-flight tourism portion of the form goes back to 1950, and the continuous data set has given Hawaii a strategic advantage by providing a snapshot of where visitors are going in Hawaii and their length of stay, which is a key to determining how much they spend per day.
'I'm not defending one format over another. I think going digital is unavoidable and this is the right direction, but we need to make sure we do it prudently from a research perspective, ' Kam said. 'We need a bridge during the pilot, and we need it sooner rather than later.'
Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki ), who chairs the House Committee on Tourism, and Sen. Lynn DeCoite (D, Lanai-Molokai-Hana ), who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, said they want to see tourism data restored quickly.
'We are in the middle of a legislative session and deciding on our budget, ' Tam said. 'We look at everything that the Council of Revenues and UHERO (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization ) puts out. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is part of the government, and they are in the middle of fighting for their budget requests, too.'
DeCoite said tourism data needs to go beyond the passenger counts so that lawmakers can determine which tourism markets to invest in and where destination stewardship mitigation is needed.
'I want to know who is resident and who is visitor. I want to know what the visitor is actually doing—if they are coming under business or convention ; are they actually going out and using the parks ; are they part of a footprint that is impacting infrastructure here, ' she said. 'That will help us isolate out if the extra added impact fee that we are talking about would be sufficient or do we continue to do a reservation system.'
Luke said it has not been determined when the tourism questions will be reintegrated into the digital agricultural form, and that more change is inevitable. She said conversations are needed now to determine how to capture the tourism data if the state moves from a digital agricultural declaration form to an advance notice. Luke said the optional tourism questions currently have about about a 40 % compliance rate.
She said the Legislature has provided the Hawai 'i Tourism Authority with $3 million to begin planning for a smart tourism app, which could incorporate visitor data into a whole tourism experience.
'People cannot wait until some things are done, and then they panic and react, ' Luke said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Terrified passengers ‘flew out of their seats' during dramatic Southwest nosedive to avoid mid-air crash
Passengers aboard Southwest flight 1496 from Burbank, California to Las Vegas, Nevada, experienced a frightening few seconds when the aircraft took a sudden nosedive to avoid a midair collision shortly after takeoff. The dramatic maneuver caused passengers to fly up out of their seats and into the ceiling as children and adults screamed, fearing the worst. Two flight attendants are being treated for injuries, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Caitlin Burdi, who was on flight 1496, told Fox News Digital she had been on the same flight path before, so she knew the extreme turbulence was abnormal. 'About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, 'OK, that's normal',' Burdi said. 'Then, within two seconds, it felt like the ride Tower of Terror, where we fell 20 to 30 feet in the air. The screaming it was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash.' Southwest confirmed the crew responded to two onboard traffic alerts after takeoff, at about 11 a.m. local time, 'requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.' 3 Passengers aboard Southwest flight 1496 from California to Nevada experienced a frightening few seconds when the aircraft took a sudden nosedive to avoid a midair collision. AFP via Getty Images The airline said the flight continued to Las Vegas, where it landed 'uneventfully,' according to a statement. 'Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to further understand the circumstances,' Southwest wrote. 'We appreciate the professionalism of our Flight Crew and Flight Attendants in responding to this event. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.' The FAA noted 'another aircraft was in the vicinity while in Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace.' 3 Caitlin Burdi, who was on flight 1496, told Fox News Digital she had been on the same flight path before, so she knew the extreme turbulence was abnormal. AFP via Getty Images One flight attendant was dazed after hitting her head, passengers said. Another flight attendant announced he was quitting. Following the dramatic drop, the pilot came on the intercom and said the plane had almost collided with another plane, and they had lost the air traffic control signal. 'It was absolutely terrifying,' Burdi said. 'I just remember him saying, 'What just happened was we almost collided with another plane, and I had to make the emergency attempt to go under because we lost service with the air traffic controller.'' 3 Southwest confirmed the crew responded to two onboard traffic alerts after takeoff, at about 11 a.m. local time, 'requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.' wolterke – Other passengers on the fearful flight took to social media to share their experience. 'Myself & Plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention,' stand-up comedian Jimmy Dore wrote in an X post. 'Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us. Wow.' The FAA said it is investigating.


Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
Seattle's island flavors make Yelp's top 50
Seattle is bringing aloha vibes to the mainland. State of play: Yelp just dropped its first-ever list of the Top 50 Hawaiian Restaurants in North America — and four Seattle-area spots made the cut. Why it matters: Hawaiian cuisine is more than just poke — it's a blend of cultures and comfort, from plate lunches and spam musubi to purple rice and loco moco. What they did: Yelp's list highlights a mix of traditional and fusion fare, curated by the company's Elite Squad, a group of active vetted users known for thoughtful reviews, quality photos and support for local businesses, per Yelp. Dig in: Here are the island-inspired standouts that made the list:


CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
2 Southwest flight attendants injured as plane departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport
The crew of a Southwest plane flying out of the Burbank Airport heading to Las Vegas responded to two onboard traffic alerts, which led to staff injuries, airline representatives said Friday. The flight schedule for Southwest flight 1496 listed a departure from Burbank at 11:50 a.m. and an arrival in Las Vegas at 1 p.m. on Friday. According to the airline, while climbing out of Burbank, traffic alerts required the flight crew to "climb and descend to comply with the alerts." There were no injuries immediately reported by customers, but according to Southwest, two flight attendants are being treated for injuries. The plane safely landed in Las Vegas. "Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration to further understand the circumstances," the airline stated. This is a developing story.