Hawaii, A Land of Eo Tourism
...g, dinner cruises, sunset sails, surfing, volcano bike tours and submarine rides. The list just keeps going and going. The best time to visit Hawaii is in September because of all the festivals and floral parades but if you’re a more hands-on kind of person then November till April would be better for you. This is because November till April is the Whale Watching season and you can see some of the most spectacular humpback whale pods with the Hawaii Whale Watching tours. The endangered Hawksbill turtles also live on the beaches of the Big Island but cannot be approached by humans. Hawaii, with its archaeological sites, is an excellent eco-tourism destination. The Polynesians had built great temples and petroglyphs on the Hawaii Big Island and Kauai of which most of them are still standing today. Both Hawaii Big Island and Kauai are excellent destinations for exploring the natural environment. There are hundreds of miles of State Park trails, sea kayaking and hiking on Kauai and on the Big Island you can explore the Volcano National Park. Because of Hawaii’s location it has been isolated from the rest of the world creating a unique natural environment. There are over 1400 native species of plants that are only found in Hawaii but most of these are found only in the deep valleys and cliffs of the inaccessible mountains. There are also 28 endemic species of Honeycreepers, some of which are only found on certain islands. Tourism is having a negative impact on Hawaii’s natural environment because of all the construction and land clearing that has to be done to make room for all the tourists. (See figure 2.1) In 1985 there were 65000 hotel rooms, in 1990 there were 76500 hotel rooms and it is projected that in 2010 there will be 132000 hotel rooms. There were 5.75 million tourists who visited Hawaii in 1989 and it is projected that at least 11.5 million more will be visiting in 2010. Hawaii’s biggest problem at the moment is that they are running out of room for expansion and so they are starting to demolish entire forests to build new hotels and golf courses. Roads around the Big Island are an increasing problem because they require land to be cleared. In 1960 only 300,000 tourists arrived; by 1970 1,500,000 landed. In...