Program to give discounts to visitors at key sites

By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Thanks to hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from local businesses, several dozen museums and other nonprofit attractions will be offering free or discounted admission to Hawai'i visitors for the holiday season.

It's part of the "Value Pass" program being organized by the Hawai'i Visitors and Conventions Bureau that will offer discounts to visitors for more than 1,100 tourism-related businesses starting Nov. 1.

The discounts for museums are being heavily supported by First Hawaiian Bank chairman Walter Dods, who said he has agreed to put up about a quarter-million dollars to underwrite several nonprofit attractions' operations for the next three months. Others participating include Bank of Hawaii and Alexander & Baldwin.

Nonprofits offering steep discounts will include the Contemporary Museum, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and Queen Emma Palace on O'ahu; Kaua'i Museum and the Grove Farm Homestead Museum on Kaua'i; the Bailey House Museum and the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum on Maui; and the Hulihe'e Palace and Lyman House Museum on the Big Island.

The promotion will help plug some financial holes for the museums, many of whom have seen visits from tourists drop well below normal in recent weeks. Some of the attractions subsist on ticket revenues, said Robert Schleck, director of the Grove Farm Homestead Museum in Lihu'e.

The Value Pass program also will offer discounts for restaurants, tours, shops, shows, water sports, other activities and some hotels. Arriving visitors will get cards entitling them to the discounts.

Details of the program, and a complete list of participating companies, are forthcoming, said Barbara Okamoto, vice president for communications at the Visitors & Conventions Bureau.