The September 11th attack
Tourism officials hit air waves

By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau yesterday made its first overture to consumers since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 on the United States, doing interviews with broadcast news organizations around the country.

Bureau representatives had scheduled live and taped interviews yesterday morning with 17 news organizations including Reuters, the Associated Press, the Travel Channel, and various network affiliates in cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas and Minneapolis.

"This is getting Hawai'i out in the marketplace," said Les Enderton, Oahu Visitors Bureau executive director. "This is really the first message we've delivered."

Money to purchase the satellite feed came from money saved when marketing and advertising campaigns were pulled immediately after the attacks, said Marsha Wienert, Maui Visitors Bureau executive director.

The bureau is crafting an emergency marketing plan to rescue Hawai'i's visitor industry, which could lose as much as $1 billion in visitor spending this year. As many as 24,000 jobs could be sacrificed to the downturn, state economists have said.

The plan, directed by a special committee appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano, is expected to be finished by the end of the weekend, bureau chief executive Tony Vericella told the Senate tourism committee yesterday.

But Vericella, who is part of the governor's three-man committee, warned lawmakers that the plan, which could reap $10 million in public money from the legislature and another $10 million from private industry, is made up of many elements, and that he could not really peg "a concrete day when it's all done."

"I don't think anybody wants us to wait to do all of it," he said, referring to when to launch marketing efforts. "And there are others who don't want us to do anything until it's all approved."

The Legislature must approve release of the $10 million the planners are expected to seek.

The Legislature is not scheduled to begin meeting until mid-October.

Vericella told lawmakers that under those conditions, the bureau could not have effective campaigns in the market place until late November.