Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the trend toward purchasing locally grown food and evaluate if tourists visiting Hawai'i are willing to pay more for locally produced foods that are more ecologically sustainable.Design/methodology/approach: A research questionnaire was developed in order to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of tourists from the continental United States visiting Hawai'i in purchasing locally grown food in Hawai'i. The final sample includes 454 valid survey responses collected via Momentive, a market research services company.Findings: According to the findings of this study, there are economic prospects to expand the use of locally cultivated food into the tourists' experience, as well as a willingness for tourists to support these activities financially. The Contingent Valuation study revealed that tourists from the continental United States were ready to pay a higher price to purchase food that is locally grown, signifying that tourists to Hawai'i are willing to aid the local agriculture business by increasing their restaurant/hotel meal bill, which will help Hawai'i become a more sustainable tourist destination.Research limitations/implications: While tourists from the United States mainland, which is the “an islands” top tourist market, have agreed with paying extra or an additional fee for locally grown food products, this study might not accurately represent the attitudes and behaviors of international tourists visiting Hawai'i. Future research should focus on the international tourist markets which may have different social norms or cultural differences thus could provide a broader spectrum of the current study's findings.Originality/value: The results of this study provided quantitative evidence that tourists from the United States are interested in purchasing locally grown food items in Hawaii in addition to their willingness to pay an additional fee for these locally grown food products at a restaurant or a hotel dining room, thus addressing a gap in the tourism research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to problems and upheaval throughout the higher-education sector, with university campuses ceasing face-to-face instruction and with assessments shifting to an online model for a few years. As a result, the pandemic prompted educators to teach online, utilizing online lectures, narrated power points, audio snippets, podcasts, instant messaging, and interactive videos, whereas traditional universities had primarily relied on in-person courses. Evaluations, which included assignments and multiple-choice questions, were conducted online, forcing lecturers to reconsider how deliverables were set up to prevent students from having easy access to the answers in a textbook or online. Learning from college students’ experiences throughout this time period will assist higher-education stakeholders (administration, faculty, and students) in adapting future online course delivery selections for higher education. In this study, we investigated the experiences of students learning from a distance, as well as aspects of their learning. We provide recommendations for higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly resulted in the largest distance-learning experiment in history.

The increasing complexity of tourism and sustainability offers opportunities and challenges among diverse stakeholder perspectives. The need for sustainable and nature-based approaches exists throughout the growing body of literature from among a number of dimensions and measures. One of the overarching goals of the paper is to examine whether tourists will choose a destination or hotel that is actively working to improve the environment while examining how Hawaii’s tourism is nature-based as well as other measures of sustainability while enjoying a slice of paradise in the Hawaiian Islands. This study explores tourism sustainability concerns in Hawaii, such as the influence of the tourist sector on the environment and will address if Hawaii should be recognized as a sustainable tourism destination. A survey instrument was developed where 454 respondents participated. According to the findings of this research, tourists visiting Hawaii support environmentally sustainable tourism practices leading towards a more sustainable tourist destination.

The unprecedented growth of tourism over the last century has led to increasing concerns over the sustainable development of many popular tourism destinations throughout the globe. High concentrations of tourists and residents, especially in urbanized areas, have heightened this concern with the arrival of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Over reliance on tourism has left residents vulnerable to external factors, such as the coronavirus pandemic that has halted tourists from coming to this remote destination. As a result, Hawaii’s overall economy is suffering greatly. A survey was developed and distributed to potential tourists in order to acquire their perceptions regarding tourism and well-being, as well as the COVID-19 outbreak. The focus of this study was to examine practices in tourism that moves beyond solely economics which will allow repositioning in a manner that promotes the well-being of both residents and tourists and to transition this unique tourism destination for sustainable development practices for the future. One of the results from the study reported that the majority of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that testing for COVID-19 should be a travel requirement prior to flying to Hawaii, as well as having an additional COVID-19 test administered upon arrival.

Given the current travel restrictions with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedented opportunity for Hawai’i to reexamine its current tourism offerings and establish a new approach to support a more authentic, cultural, and sustainable tourism for the U.S. domestic tourist market. As tourists from the continental U.S. are the largest source market for visitors to Hawai’i, the purpose of this study is to examine the trend towards an “authentic cultural” tourism experience and evaluate whether U.S. visitors will be willing to pay for a deeper integration and representation of Hawaiian culture in tourism offerings. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was adopted to quantify the willingness to pay (WTP) more by the tourists to Hawaii in order to experience a more “authentic Hawaiian cultural experience” as well as “sustainable experiences”. Differences between returning and first-time visitors were considered. This study focused on continental U.S. visitors’ perceptions of Hawaiian culture and the sustainability of Hawaiian tourism products, as well as the assessment of locally grown food and tourists’ willingness to pay extra for these tourism products and experiences. The contingent valuation survey demonstrated that continental U.S. travelers were supportive of an additional fee in order to experience authentic Hawaiian cultural and tourism experiences designed and/or facilitated by Native Hawaiians. In addition, U.S. visitors were also supportive of paying additional fees for activities or experiences to support sustainable tourism in Hawai’i, including paying more for locally grown food, indicating that they would be willing to increase their restaurant/hotel food bill in order to support the Hawaii’s local farming industry. The results of this study demonstrate that there are economic opportunities to further integrate Hawaiian culture and sustainability into the experience of visitors, and that U.S. visitors are willing to support these cultural activities financially.

No industry has been immune to the #MeToo movement since its inception. The restaurant industry is especially susceptible to incidents of sexual harassing behaviors due to certain characteristics of the business itself. The purpose of this research paper is to evaluate restaurant employees’ perceptions of sexual harassment and the effects of the #MeToo movement has had on those perceptions. By analyzing the responses of restaurant employees in Hawaii, significant differences in sexual harassment perceptions were found among different groups depending on age, generation and job position. Through quantitative and qualitative examinations, the influence of the #MeToo movement on restaurant employees’ perceptions of sexual harassment is explored. This study will provide timely information when it comes to sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and suggest policies and implications for the field.