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"IS THIS THE END OF TOURISM IN HAWAI`I?"
We Have Shocking News About Hawai`i Tourism.
The Head Of Tourism Says “Tourism As We Have Known It Is Over.”
Itʻs The Moment So Many Have Been Waiting For.
Watch This to See Why Itʻs A Huge Opportunity For Hawai`iʻs Future.
ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"
"On The Brink Of Extinction - A Visit With Rick Barboza"
We usually think of the lush tropical foliage growing everywhere as how Hawai`i has always looked, but when we met Rick Barboza we found out how wrong that is. Rick, co-owner of Hui Kū Maoli Ola, a plant nursery dedicated to restoring Hawai`iʻs native plants, surprised us by revealing there have been three separate Hawai`is over time that had completely different natural environments. During our tour of Hui Kū Maoli Ola, it did not take us long to realize how devastated Hawai`iʻs natural environment has become. Join us in our amazing visit as Rick shows us their one-of-a-kind native plants & explains why the survival of native Hawaiian plants are so important today - Watch It Here
Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.
Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.
For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV.
And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.
All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.
Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.
TOURISM AS WE HAVE KNOWN IT IN HAWAI`I IS OVER
Travel Weekly - April 16, 2025
Envisioning revolutionary changes for Hawaii's tourism industry, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Aaron Sala said at the Travel Weekly Hawaii Leadership Forum on April 15, "Tourism as we have known it is over."
Sala was hired last September, coming to the HVCB as a business entrepreneur and educator. As president and CEO of Gravitas Pasifika, he led a boutique firm dedicated to advancing Native Hawaiian talent.
Sala's hire is in line with Hawaii tourism's movement toward prioritizing the well-being of Native Hawaiians (including tourism workers), environmental protection and cultural preservation, while de-emphasizing growth in visitor numbers.
"The traditional model is not just outdated, it is extractive, colonial, dangerously romantic," he said. "It asked communities to perform authenticity while their futures were auctioned off for occupancy. It celebrated arrivals while silencing the voices of those displaced by rising rents and eroding shorelines. And yet this traditional approach remains the one too many are still polishing, buffing the rust off a machine that was never built to serve all of us in the first place.”
Sala said that he did not come to the HVCB to maintain the status quo, but rather to end it. He described this as a transformational time for Hawaii and the HVCB, and he looks forward to building more partnerships and collaborations.
"Whether we recognize it or not, our campaigns, our inventories, our itineraries, they all play a role in larger geopolitical narratives, narratives of dependency, narratives of dominance, narratives of dispossession," he said. "Let us not pretend that we are doing enough or that we are doing it fast enough. Too many of us are still acting like [the tourism numbers we had in] 1995, or 2019 even, might come back if we just market it better. But neither of those worlds is real, neither of those worlds is returning.”
A Call For A 'New Tourism Compact'
Sala said he wanted to share this message as a call to action, so that others in the industry can work together with the HVCB to reconstruct its strategy and models. He refers to the HVCB as "becoming a destination futures enterprise, a force for cultural stewardship, economic innovation and geopolitical fluency."
"In addition to the work that we are doing to reimagine ourselves internally as a visitors and convention bureau, through strategic efforts of our team, we challenge all of you to join us in the co-creation, perhaps, of a new tourism compact," he said. "That compact is meant to be a global framework rooted in regenerative principles, cultural integrity and systemic equity. We want to do this together. Partner with us on innovation pilots, if you have an idea, if you're a wholesaler, if you're a hotelier, if you work in airlines and you have an idea that makes sense to partner with us, bring that idea to us."
Sala's words sparked discussion during the wholesaler/tour operator panel, which gave positive and optimistic feedback about the HVCB's shift.
"I love the fact that they're asserting their leadership and basically wanting to communicate the proper message and controlling the narrative of what Hawaii is. I think a lot of things they're doing is fantastic, and we're happily supporting it," said David Hu, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays.
Ray Snisky, group president of ALG Vacations, said that it's a different approach "that's badly needed," and he is confident that it can be done when stakeholders work together.
"I have a tremendous amount of optimism," he said.
Snisky said the next step is "forming an execution plan and doing that together….”
FREE HAWAI`I NEWS SHORT
WHAT LIE ABOUT HAWAIIANS DID THE HOKULE`A DESTROY?
WATCH IT HERE -
Want More? Watch The Full Episode Here - FreeHawaiiNews.com
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"WHAT IS THE PACIFIC WAY? WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO HAWAI`I?"
The Pacific Way Is An Island Based Way Of Being.
It Not Only Shows You How To Live, But Where You Do Live.
Where You Live May Be Different Than Where You Think You Do.
Watch This & See How The Pacific Way Shows You How To Thrive, Not Survive.
RESTORING HAWAI`IʻS NATIVE PLANTS ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"
"On The Brink Of Extinction - A Visit With Rick Barboza"
We usually think of the lush tropical foliage growing everywhere as how Hawai`i has always looked, but when we met Rick Barboza we found out how wrong that is. Rick, co-owner of Hui Kū Maoli Ola, a plant nursery dedicated to restoring Hawai`iʻs native plants, surprised us by revealing there have been three separate Hawai`is over time that had completely different natural environments. During our tour of Hui Kū Maoli Ola, it did not take us long to realize how devastated Hawai`iʻs natural environment has become. Join us in our amazing visit as Rick shows us their one-of-a-kind native plants & explains why the survival of native Hawaiian plants are so important today - Watch It Here
Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.
Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.
For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV.
And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.
All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.
Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.
KE AUPUNI UPDATE - APRIL 2025
Times have changed…
Back in 1893, when the friendly, enlightened and peaceful Hawaiian Kingdom government was suddenly seized and supplanted by a cabal of 13 disgruntled and greedy white sugar planters, lawyers and businessmen, in cahoots with a conniving US diplomat and the US Navy, no other nation objected — not even any of our numerous treaty partners.
While the Hawaiian people and their leaders raised strong objections and diplomatic protests, the nations of the world, whom we thought were our friends, kept silent and looked the other way.
Then, after valiant acts of resistance culminating in 1897 with the ultimate act of resistance embodied in the Kuʻe Petition, which stopped annexation cold in its constitutional tracks, the US bypassed their own laws and in 1898, under cover of the Spanish American War, simply declared Hawaiʻi “annexed” and took over. What the US did in Hawaiʻi in 1898, set the tone and style of American imperialism up to today, 127 years later.
So as preposterous and ridiculous the notion of America annexing Canada and Greenland may sound in today’s geopolitical schematic, people shouldn’t be too surprised. It has been the modus operandi of American overseas imperialism since it took Hawaiʻi in 1898.
The good news is that, in this day and age, a unilateral annexation of Canada and Greenland, is seen as an international wrongful act. The international standard now is self-determination. Today, any lawful change in a nation’s governance requires the consent of the people — self-determination. Thus, any annexation or acquisition of Canada or Greenland would require a period of education and contemplation culminating in a referendum to determine the free, prior and informed consent of the people of Canada and Greenland.
And unlike what happened in Hawaii in 1898 (and numerous other countries since then) the world is now watching and quick to respond to irregularities and anything that smells like an unlawful taking.
The Hawaiian Kingdom, one of the most progressive nations on the planet at that time, clearly understood this principle: that consent of the people is crucial to keeping proper order. The reason for the Kuʻe Petition was to oppose the United States’ annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by registering unequivocal support to maintain the Kingdom.
Going to war against the US was out of the question as Hawaii was well-aware of the destruction of native Americans at the hands of the US cavalry and what was to play out in the Philippines. To our kūpuna, signing the Kuʻe petition was the best way to protect the integrity and future of their beloved Hawaiʻi nei.
And they were right! Even though the rest of the world did not share that level of thinking regarding sovereignty and human rights, what our forefathers did, set the plumb line for Hawaii’s sovereignty even through the 127 years of foreign occupation and adversity.
Our kūpuna laid the foundations and left the blueprint for us to follow today to free Hawaiʻi.
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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"Remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom, check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."
PLEASE KŌKUA…
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort...
To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – log in to PayPal and pay to the account, info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer service, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
FREE HAWAI`I NEWS SHORT
WILL HAWAIIANS WHO LEAVE HAWAII EVER BE ABLE TO RETURN?
WATCH IT HERE -
Want More? Watch The Full Episode Here - FreeHawaiiNews.com
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"WHICH WAS WORSE - TARIFFS OF 1890 OR 2025?"
Theyʻre Both Very Bad News.
One Cratered The Stock Market & Financial System.
The Other Helped Overthrow A Sovereign Government.
Watch This To See Which One You Would Want To Live Through.
PIONEERS OF KAHIKINUI ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"
"Pioneers Of Kahikinui - A Visit With Donna Sterling"
When we met Donna Sterling at Kahikinui in southeast Maui, we discovered that while itʻs one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land in all Hawai`i, during ancient times it was home to a large population of Hawaiians. Because much skill and hard work are required to live in such a dry lava landscape, only fifteen homestead families currently live there, of which Donna is proudly one. Our afternoon visit with her made us quickly realize why she lives in this very special place. Donʻt miss our visit with Donna as she reveals how beautiful and historic Kahikinui really is - Watch It Here
Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.
Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.
For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV.
And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.
All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.
Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.
APRIL FREE HAWAII NEWS - WILL THE MAUNA ALA ROYAL MAUSOLEUM BECOME A TOURIST TRAP?
Also A Stunning Change Of Where Hawaiians Live, Then The 50th Anniversary Of Hokule`a Launching Reminds Hawaiians Theyʻre Pacific Islanders Not Westerners Plus How The United Nations Has Spread Hawaiiʻs Story Worldwide & A New Episode of Our Popular Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o
The April 2025 “Free Hawaii News” debuting Tonight, April 4th airs at our new time of 7 PM on `Olelo Television Channel 53 on O`ahu and also at FreeHawaiiNews.com
“The Royal Mausoleum at Mauna Ala has had kahu or caretakers throughout the past who are lineal descendants in specific Hawaiian families who oversee and protect the iwi or royal bones interred there.
"The Department of Land and Natural Resources recently opted to select a non-descendant to be mausoleum curator rather than kahu. We interview James Maioho, one of those lineal descendants about plans to turn Mauna Ala into a tourist destination and the expected pushback from our Hawaiian community,” states Free Hawaii News co-host Hinaleimoana Wong.
“Also in our April show we interview filmmaker Cris Romento who made ʻDear Aloha,ʻ a short film which examines the lives of Hawaiians who are part of the diaspora or expats living outside of Hawaii. ʻDear Alohaʻ documents the emotional cost to what is sadly now the majority of kanaka maoli who have been forced to leave their homeland due to the lack of affordable housing and other economics,” remarked Free Hawaii News co-host Leon Siu.
Leon Siu also reports on how the United Nations has spread Hawai`iʻs story of overthrow and prolonged illegal US occupation worldwide accompanied by significant international and US press coverage.
The April Free Hawaii News features a report on the fiftieth anniversary of the launching of the Hokule`a and the cultural impact it has had in Hawaii, throughout Oceania and around the world.
Free Hawaii News presents Hawaiian or kanaka maoli perspectives on a broad range of issues and topics affecting the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific and the world.
Brought to you by the Koani Foundation, Free Hawaii News airs every month on `Ōlelo Television on O`ahu, on all neighbor islands and on stations around the world as well as online on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, X, BlueSky and over thirty different Facebook pages and other online sites.
Hinaleimoana Wong is a kumu hula, filmmaker, cultural activist, Hawaiian language speaker, preservationist and community leader. She has served as a member of the O`ahu Island Burial Council.
Leon Siu has for many years served as Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He is active in that role at the United Nations in both New York City and Geneva, Switzerland. Besides being a diplomat, he is also an award-winning musician, composer and political analyst.
TOMORROW ON THE APRIL FREE HAWAII NEWS
Will The Sacred Grounds Of Hawaiiʻs Royal Mausoleum Be Turned Into A Tourist Trap?
What Is The Stunning Change About Where Hawaiians Live?
What Is The 50th Anniversary of Hokule`aʻs Launching Reminding Hawaiians Of?
How Has The United Nations Spread Hawaiiʻs Story Worldwide?
And A New Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o.
Join Hosts Hinaleimoana Wong & Leon Siu As They Give The Kanaka Perspective On Issues In Hawaii You Wonʻt Get Anywhere Else.
FREE HAWAII NEWS DEBUTS AT OUR NEW TIME - 7 PM ON `OLELO TELEVISION -CABLE CHANNEL 53 ON O`AHU - FreeHawaiiNews.com
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK
"WHY THE WORLD NOW KNOWS ABOUT HAWAI`IʻS SITUATION"
Remember The Days When Nobody Knew?
“What Do You Mean Hawai`iʻs Not Part Of The US?”
Today, Practically Everyone Has Heard About It.
Watch This To See Why Everyone Knows & How It Happened.
