Hawaiian Airlines, Hawai’i Tourism Oceania and The Sea Cleaners banded together for International Coastal Cleanup Day on 17 September to remove thousands of litres of rubbish from coastlines and beaches on Oahu.
The group from Australia, New Zealand and Hawai’i removed 3,000 litres of debris, including fishing nets, plastic water bottles and even toothbrushes, at James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.
The airline, tourism board and non-profit organisation also brought 10 youth ambassadors, including four Aussies, four Kiwis and two Hawai’i youth, to work alongside 14 Hawaiian Airlines Team Kōkua volunteers and HTO, the Oʻahu Visitors Bureau and the Australian Consulate-General representatives.
Hawai’i Tourism’s Mālama Hawaiʻi program encourages visitors to the Hawaiian Islands to mālama (give back) through voluntourism activities.
Hawai’i Tourism Oceania Country Manager New Zealand Darragh Walshe said: “This initiative has a close fit with the concept of mālama and shows how that concept can be incorporated into and is vital to the visitor industry.”
“Regenerative tourism is all about people caring, connecting, collaborating and learning about values important to the place they visit.”
The Sea Cleaners and the youth ambassadors also hosted educational presentations at schools, cleaned beaches with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi, volunteered with Nā Kama Kai kids non-profit and engaged in various experiences in the Mālama Hawaiʻi program.
The Sea Cleaners Founder Hayden Smith said the non-profit aims to teach people about the impact of plastic on our oceans.
“Where the Hawaiian Islands are situated geographically in the Pacific Ocean, the shores get inundated with plastic debris washing ashore from all different directions,” he said.
“Our intent during this trip was to be good tourists and leave the place better than we found it.”
In addition to supporting non-profits such as The Sea Cleaners, Hawaiian Airlines has focused on encouraging guests to help protect Hawaiʻi via a five-minute Travel Pono (explore with care) in-flight video, which airs before landing on transpacific flights.
For more info, head to hawaiianairlines.com and hawaiitourismauthority.org
