In 2020, the world was forced to pivot. The Covid-19 pandemic shut down Hawaii’s tourism industry and plunging communities into uncertainty and tensions ran high. Even before the crisis, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) faced mounting challenges—record-high visitor numbers were straining local resources, environmental and community impacts were growing, and tourism revenues remained flat. Compounding these issues, many community members lacked trust in HTA, making engagement even more difficult.
HTA adopted a radical new approach to tourism and enlisted our help.
Good Juju designed a strategy and implemented process to rebuild trust and engage a diverse and outspoken community in a thoughtful, productive, strategic manner, and did it all virtually. Over 100 Steering Committee members and 600 public community members participated in one or more of a series of over 20 virtual meetings and 6 community presentations facilitated in partnership with EcoLOGIC Consulting.
In the end, Steering Committees and county leads expressed great relief in the process, facilitation and tech support, and interactive tools that helped the remain productive despite the challenges and frustrations of going virtual.
As a result, HTA met their goals of engaging diverse communities, developing networks and creating multiple island-specific plans compatible with statewide strategic plans …and did it all as scheduled despite the delays associated with Covid.
When tensions run high, reaching consensus among diverse groups is difficult. Meeting in person helps build relationships and bridge differences, but remote settings can create distance, making collaboration and team-building even more challenging.
Creating a Safe Space for Meaningful Community Engagement
Good Juju advised HTA on the formation and composition of community Steering Committees to ensure broad representation and local ownership of the planning process. These committees played a critical role in shaping draft plans, identifying priorities, and serving as trusted ambassadors throughout the engagement process. To foster transparency and participation, Good Juju provided strategic outreach support, facilitated public presentations, and developed interactive tools for gathering real-time community feedback.
Pioneering Hands-On Virtual Engagement
Good Juju broke the “fourth wall” of virtual meetings, transforming impersonal online interactions into dynamic, immersive experiences. Through interactive learning games, breakout sessions, custom virtual workrooms, surveys, polls, and proprietary digital collaboration tools, participants actively contributed ideas, documented insights, and helped shape solutions in real time. Specialized templates enabled groups to self-facilitate, remain focused, and organize ideas into actionable recommendations.
Building Trust Through Iterative Collaboration
HTA and Good Juju integrated community feedback throughout every phase of the process. Follow-up sessions allowed participants to review findings, refine proposals, and ensure concerns were addressed before plans moved forward. This approach strengthened trust, increased transparency, and transformed initial enthusiasm into sustained community involvement. The result was a robust, inclusive planning process that converted community insights into actionable outcomes while laying the foundation for future community-driven initiatives.
This Interactive template served many purposes. 1. it highlighted the existing strategic framework for all islands and served as an orientation piece for stakeholders. 2. It functioned as a brainstorming template for community members 3. it became the basis for island specific storymap summary highlighting updated plans.