The Malama Hawaii initiative was launched by Hawaii's tourism board in early 2021 to incorporate authentic Native Hawaiian culture into all aspects of the state's visitor industry. The goal was to safeguard Hawaii's communities and fragile sites while enhancing the tourist experience. However, after just three years, the initiative is on the verge of collapse due to the state's tourism board's impending collapse. The proposed state tourism budget bill for the fiscal year 2023-2024, beginning on July 1, does not provide any funds for the state's 25-year-old tourism office, leaving the future of the Malama Hawaii initiative uncertain. The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), which was established to manage tourism on the islands, may be disbanded and replaced by an agency that would focus more on managing the destination's resources than marketing Hawaii to tourists. While the bill to disband the HTA was deferred, it is predicted that excluding the agency from the final budget would significantly curtail its efforts to manage tourism on the islands. This poses a threat to cultural activities, festivals, and community-led volunteer opportunities that have recently made Hawaii a vibrant place to visit, as well as to crowd control measures that protect the state's most fragile places.

The tension between Hawaii's legislators and the tourism office is not new, and it reached a boiling point in 2019 when Hawaii's 1.5 million residents witnessed over-tourism amid 10.4 million annual arrivals. Unregulated tourism led to the littering of popular sights, overcrowded beaches, bleached coral reefs, traffic snarls caused by tourists taking selfies, and the desecration of sacred places. HTA was seen as a victim of its own success in marketing the state. As a result, it underwent major changes, including replacing its leadership of mostly white executives with Indigenous Hawaiians and refocusing its goals on making tourism sustainable for everyone. The Malama Hawaii campaign took off, spreading responsible tourism messaging to visitors and creating sustainable experiences to help them be more mindful of the fragility of Hawaii's beautiful and sacred places. These changes helped attract more affluent, higher-spending travelers, resulting in a record $1 billion in hotel bed taxes in 2023. These guests also contributed to community-led activities such as beach cleanups, cultural walks, and tours of a chocolate farm. However, some legislators thought the progress was too slow, and the government has since reined in HTA's spending powers, cut off its direct line of funding from hotel taxes, and began requiring state approval to award contracts and pass annual budgets.

Some legislators have been calling for the disbandment of the HTA for at least five years, having made up their minds before the current CEO, John De Fries, took office. They are looking to build a new kind of tourism office that would focus exclusively on sustainable management of tourism, not marketing to tourists. This threatens programs and experiences that are valuable to both travelers and locals, such as HTA-sponsored events like the Hawaii Book and Music Festival, the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, the Maui Ukulele Festival, and the Big Island Chocolate Festival. These festivals highlight Hawaiian artists and culture, providing visitors with a richer experience and locals with meaningful revenue streams. Unless Governor Josh Greene vetoes the proposed state budget, these programs will probably suffer cuts in the next three to six months.