U.S. visitor board named
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Department of Commerce has named a new travel and tourism advisory board, but none of the Hawai'i representatives who applied made it onto the panel.
The group's purpose is to increase the number of international visitors to the United States. Honolulu ranks as the fourth most popular U.S. destination for foreign visitors, after Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Doug Baker characterized the board members who were selected as being experts and chief executives of companies that have a presence in many different states.
The 15 who were named include the Alaska International Airport Tourism Marketing Council president, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority president, Ruth's Chris Steak House president, American Express vice chairman, and CEOs of Marriott International, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and United Airlines.
Baker said that of the 130 or so applicants for board positions, a handful were from Hawai'i. They included Hawai'i Tourism Authority executive director Rex Johnson; Continental Airlines managing director Ron Wright, who is vice chairman of the tourism authority's board; Tony Vericella, who resigned under fire last month as president of the Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau; and Manny Menendez, the city's director of economic development.
"Any of them could have played a great role. By their exclusion it does not impugn their abilities at all," Baker said.
The members "represent a bipartisan cross-section of the industry," according to the department, and Baker emphasized that the group will be open to suggestions and ideas.
Hawai'i officials took the high road yesterday, expressing no criticism of the panel's lineup.
"Although we would have loved to have seen someone on the advisory group from Hawai'i, these various folks who represent our businesses and hotels and accommodations on the Islands are on the list," said Marsha Wienert, Gov. Linda Lingle's tourism liaison.
"We hope to be working very closely with them."
The first of the monthly meetings of the group is set for Sept. 8 in New York City.
The new board will advise Commerce Secretary Don Evans on a program that will promote the United States in general to increase the number of international travelers to the United States and its territories.
"We would hope that when we say, 'Come visit the United States,' that they think of Hawai'i, that they think of Guam and the Marianas," Baker said. "We hope that that transition happens."
Baker said the program will be financed with about $40 million of a $50 million appropriation approved by President Bush earlier this year for tourism promotions.
The campaign will focus on top markets that have sent travelers to the United States: Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany, according to Baker. Other countries being reviewed are France, Brazil, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
To the extent that Japan is included, Baker said, the Commerce Department would work to link the campaign to an initiative agreed on last year to expand tourism between Japan and the United States.
Plans call for the remaining $10 million to be used as matching grants that states or regions can seek. Wienert said the Hawai'i Tourism Authority plans to apply for a matching grant.
"We are going to be looking at ways in which, through this program and through other programs, we can assist Hawai'i in your tourism outreach because it's so important to your economic development," Baker said.
He said that he has met with Hawai'i representatives and that staff members from the Commerce Department would be meeting with Lingle later this month to discuss the federal programs.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470 or at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
