Jaunted

You can check out what the Hawaii fuss is about in the video below, but basically Disney's new favorite movie star Dwanye "Don't Call Me The Rock" Johnson serenades visitors as they sip on their umbrella-topped Mai Tais. After making small talk with the tourists and co-worker Fred Armisen, he's quick to put down visitors ("Our biggest import is fat white tourists") and lets them know that his "dream job" only pays $7 an hour.

For a state that relies so heavily on tourist dollars and a reputation for being friendly, we can see why they're upset. We saw how another example of Destination Dissing didn't go over so well when President Obama criticized corporations for holding expensive retreats and conventions in Las Vegas. As you can imagine, Vegas which for so long was doing so well, did not take that so lightly.

While we understand the economy is hurting everyone right now, we sincerely hope that this doesn't mean we can't express our opinions on a destination anymore. Especially opinions that emerge from true experiences.

Worldhum has a great article about the Hawaii-SNL brouhaha saying the humor behind the skit was partly based in truth. For more insight on what your waiter thinks as you order your frothy alcoholic concoction, check out this hospitality worker's opinion of Hawaiian tourists.

“Depends on why they’re here,” he said. “If they want to learn about Hawaii’s people and history and culture, they’re very welcome. But if they just want to sit on the beach and drink Mai Tais, they can go to Florida.”

An AP article interviewed a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Center for Hawaiian Studies who said the SNL skit was accurate in its portrayal of the low wages in the tourism industry and how "Hawaiian culture is sometimes packaged for tourist consumption without concern for its authenticity."

Also, isn't it fair to say that all tourist traps suffer from the same poor service from exasperated employees? Whether it be Times Square, Piccadilly Circus, Hollywood's Chinese Theater or the Eiffel Tower, that's just a fact of life about heavily-frequented tourist spots. To us, anyways.

But before get too crazy here talking about Hawaii's tourism faults, let us remember that the SNL skit was just a skit. We doubt it's seriously going to affect our future travel plans to Hawaii. We haven't ever taken travel advice from The Rock before so we doubt we'll start now.

Been to Hawaii lately? What did you think of the SNL skit? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

Related Stories:
·'Saturday Night Live' Tourism Skit Stirs Hawaii [AP, via Google]
·You Can Fly On Hawaii's Longest Zip Line [Jaunted]
·Hawaii Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: D'Arcy Norman]

Jaunted's senior editor Juliana also contributed to this post.