We’re engineering a way for tourism to give back.
Hawaii resident and small business surveys are OPEN! Respondents will be invited to our community demo.
Tourism in Hawaiʻi is broken — but itʻs not because visitors don't care.
Most travelers want to do the right thing. They just don't know how. Guidebooks flatten Hawaiʻi into beaches and restaurants. Apps optimize for convenience, not connection. And the people who actually live here rarely see the benefit.
Rooted Hawaiʻi was built to fix that.
We're a community-guided platform that connects visitors with Native-owned and local businesses, helps visitors understand the voices and practices that shape Hawaiʻi, and offers guidance on how to travel with respect.
Rooted is a tool to realign tourism with the people who were born here and who live here — designed to strengthen local businesses instead of bypassing them. Everything is curated, values-based, and developed in partnership with the community.
For travelers: a compass.
For businesses: visibility.
For Hawaiʻi: wealth that stays here.
Hawaiʻi deserves an approach to tourism that honors its past and protects its future. Visitors are ready to listen. Rooted is a way to guide them.
Our Plan of Action
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Partnerships
Partnerships are the crux of Rooted Hawaiʻi.
We're building this platform the same way healthy communities grow — through relationships, conversation, and shared responsibility.
To Hawaiʻi’s cultural practitioners, educators, and knowledge keepers: Your guidance is essential. We want to ensure our approach honors cultural protocols, reduces harm, and creates pathways to uplift Native Hawaiian voices without extracting from them. We’re here to listen, learn, and build in ways that honor what you protect.
To Native Hawaiian-owned and local small businesses: We want to understand what genuine support looks like in practice. We have a working prototype and need your feedback on whether our tools match your reality — what helps, what’s missing, and what would make the platform truly valuable to you.
We're actively seeking:
- Cultural advisors to shape protocols, language use, and community impact
- Business owners to evaluate features and tools
- Community members to participate in feedback circles
If you're interested in early collaboration in any form, please reach out. -
Progress Bar
Rooted Hawaiʻi is in a foundational phase — laying down values that will hold strong through future storms.
Our announcements and engagement aren't about speed — this is a grassroots, community-led effort that moves at the pace of deep listening and relationship-building.We welcomed a Native Hawaiian executive team member in a cultural leadership role and are recruiting additional advisors. We have ongoing collaborations with local artists in building our visual identity.
Our working prototype demonstrates core features — how visitors discover businesses, understand cultural context, and navigate respectfully. Now, we need community guidance on strategy and feature development.
Right now, our focus is gathering insight from local small businesses and community members across the islands. Your feedback will directly shape this work-in-progress. Every voice, concern, and lived experience will influence what comes next.
If you believe in a more ethical future for tourism in Hawaiʻi — whether you’re a resident, leader, practitioner, or business owner — we’d love to hear your perspective.
Open data collections
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Resident Voices Survey
Help shape the future of travel in Hawai‘i.
Are you from Hawai‘i, or do you currently live in Hawai‘i? Help us protect the islands and support the people who this home.
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Small Business Survey
This time, the platform is yours.
Are you a Native Hawaiian–owned or local business? Your insights will help us build tools to truly support you.
We’d love to connect.
Do you have questions, comments, or concerns? We reply to everyone individually.
* NO mailing lists are involved.
Mahalo to please supply your information below. We will be in touch soon.