2 groups join forces to promote visitor sites
By Frank Cho and Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writers
The Hawaii Attractions Association, which represents about 35 visitor attractions, has merged its operations with a similar Maui group to create a marketing and lobbying organization to represent visitor attractions statewide.
The new organization will be based in Kahului and led by Toni Davis, who was also executive director of the Maui group, the 208-member Activities Owners Association of Hawaii.
Davis said the combined group now has a new statewide executive committee and plans are to call the new organization the Activities and Attractions Association of Hawaii or A3H.
"Both organizations had identical goals to become the statewide nonprofit trade organization representing the activities and attractions industry," Davis said.
She said her members approved the merger and that the new entity has total assets of $258,000. The organization is launching a reservations Web site to market to travel agents and travelers.
"Hawaii Attractions has always wanted to be a statewide organization so our board made a decision last year ... about a possible merger," said Lori Lum, president of the Hawaii Attractions Association. "We felt it made sense for groups with similar goals to come together, and you can see some efficiencies from that."
Hawaii Attractions closed its doors Sept. 30 as part of the merger. Its membership included The Polynesian Cultural Center, the Arizona Memorial and the Waikiki Aquarium to name a few.
Lum said the board of directors of Hawaii Attractions Association approved the merger proposal earlier this year. Lum said details such as the name of the newly merged organization still need to be finalized. The new organization would like to be known by the acronym A3H to recognize the associations Web-based strategy.
Lum said the goal is to create a state board to oversee the organization and then have island committees that would address issues specific to attractions on those islands. The first meeting of the new association's executive committee will be in January, Davis said.
