Posted on: Friday, September 28, 2001

Island Voices
Tourism marketing process is flexible

By Keith Vieira
Senior vice president, Starwood Hotels & Resorts-Hawaii

In her Sept. 4 column, Advertiser staffer Michele Kayal offers kudos to the Hawai'i Tourism Authority for "safeguarding budgeting ethics" and rejecting the 2002 marketing plan presented by the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau as the budget exceeded the contracted budget figure of $45 million. While I appreciate the positive press, I believe some clarification is in order.

It is the responsibility of the HTA to ensure that the plans and actions of contracted vendors help attain targeted visitor spending goals, as developed by the HTA, while addressing the seven initiatives set forth in the tourism strategic plan.

If additional marketing funds are required to help achieve these goals, it is the responsibility of the marketing committee to identify this need and request additional funding from the board.

At the beginning of the year, the HTA assigned the budget committee the responsibility for adjusting allocations within the overall budget to ensure that the goals of the HTA can be met. It is therefore appropriate for the marketing committee to request additional funds if it deems it necessary for the achievement of visitor spending goals, while the budget committee prioritizes the allocations within the overall budget to achieve the request.

It is up to the board to determine if the recommended reallocation is the best use of HTA funds, given the goals and direction in the tourism strategic plan.

The point of the column is well taken: Due diligence on the part of the marketing committee is a critical part of the review process prior to the recommendation of any plan to the full board. However, the analogy Kayal uses to compare her personal budgeting responsibilities to that which the HVCB has done is misleading.

When unforeseen circumstances require an extraordinary purchase for personal use, it is indeed her responsibility to make adjustments within her budget. However, if The Advertiser requires her to perform extraordinary duties such as writing longer and more in-depth columns to increase sales, it would be absolutely appropriate for her to request additional funds from her employer.

Economic conditions have changed since the current HVCB marketing contract was executed and it is the responsibility of the marketing committee to ensure that the plan the HVCB implements is sufficiently funded to achieve success.