He is wrong, number of tourists isn't important, the amount the tourists spend is. Less tourists who are more affluent provide us with the same economic gain but lessen the impacts on our infrastructure and natural resources. But they won't generate the same profit for an airlines, hence his stance. Frankly hawaii ought to diversify so when another global disaster happens (9/11, tsunamis, etc)  the down tick in travel doesn't cause a total collapse of our economy.