Posted on: Friday, March 14, 2003

Wartime tourism plan called weak by senator

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Senate tourism chairwoman expressed doubts yesterday that the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's plan for attracting tourists in the event of a war with Iraq will work.

Tourism authority officials are trying to set up contingencies for promoting Hawai'i to people on the Mainland, in Japan and elsewhere should a military conflict break out. A severe slowdown in the tourism industry is expected during a war, but industry officials hope to soften the blow and boost an eventual recovery.

Plans include sending a delegation of state officials, possibly led by Gov. Linda Lingle, to Japan to assure the Japanese that Hawai'i welcomes visitors during wartime, encourage travel writers to write about the state and launch marketing programs with airlines.

But Senate Tourism Committee Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim, D-14th (Halawa, Moanalua, Kamehameha Heights), said she did not think the plans outlined would work.

Kim said she has heard from people from Japan that a similar marketing mission from Hawai'i after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was not well-received. But tourism authority officials insisted the mission was effective. However, they would plan to send a smaller group of people and visit Japan earlier than before. A month after Sept. 11, a delegation led by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano traveled to Japan to promote the Islands.

Lingle has said it is too early to tell if she will join the delegation to Japan.

Sending a group to Japan "is a fundamental first step in getting that market going again," said Frank Haas, the tourism authority's marketing director.

Kim, however, seemed unimpressed. She pointed to creative ideas in tourism marketing, including New York City advertisements featuring celebrities welcoming visitors and Las Vegas promotions offering discounts. She said promotion of the Islands should be more innovative.

"What we did was not creative, was not out of the box. ... It did nothing for the people out there," Kim said of the post-Sept. 11 effort.

She also said the authority's marketing plan may not be enough to bring Japanese visitors here, pointing to Japanese Consul General Masatoshi Muto's recent comments describing how Japanese are looking for better hotels, more attractions and safety from crime.

"We need to appeal to the consumer in Japan," Kim said. "I don't think we've done that effectively, especially in a time of war and conflict."

Sen. Willie Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), asked if the authority has considered inviting high-profile visitors from Japan, such as Japan's royal family, to attract media coverage and reassure the Japanese it is safe to visit.

Haas said the tourism authority will consider that idea.

Much of the authority's war contingency plan involves shifting money from Hawai'i-brand advertising to other marketing programs.

The tourism authority could cancel $1.4 million in advertising through May and may not need additional emergency marketing money, Haas said. Legislators had been considering allowing the authority to tap into as much as $8 million in emergency money.

Also at the Senate hearing yesterday, Johnson said the tourism authority has not yet signed or paid for this year's contract with the Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau or convention center operator and marketer SMG.

When Kim asked what the plans are if the tourism authority does not get a contract signed with the visitors bureau, Johnson said: "We have talked internally about some options that we may have and that would include HTA stepping into the position of the contractors."

That could raise questions of how feasible it would be for the authority to act as its own marketer. The tourism authority has about 17 staff members. The visitors bureau has 103 employees and offices in Honolulu, the Neighbor Islands and about 16 cities around the world.

The tourism authority plans to issue a request for proposals Monday for different parts of the state's tourism marketing contracts. The HVCB is the state's primary marketing contractor, but the tourism authority hopes to also attract proposals from other agencies.

Bidders will need to include a justification for overhead costs including office space and staffing. Kim criticized the authority for keeping offices open that are not used effectively, specifically naming the visitors bureau's Osaka office.

The visitors bureau contract is not the only one the tourism authority has undertaken without a legally binding agreement. That practice was one of the criticisms state Auditor Marion Higa voiced in testimony before the committee, based on the her financial audit of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism released earlier this month.

Higa said the tourism authority, which is a part of the DBEDT, does not adequately manage its contracts. According to the audit, contractors performed services before a contract was executed and did not submit final reports in a timely manner. The authority also renewed contracts before the prior year's work was evaluated and paid a contractor before the contract was completed, the audit stated.

In three instances, the authority did not receive final reports from a contractor until as late as 11 months after the deadline.

Johnson said many of the compliance problems arose from timing problems and contracts with festival organizers who work on a volunteer basis. He said they would be told that the tourism authority is under scrutiny and all need to do a better job. "We don't want to be the heavy hand of government" with such organizations, Johnson said.

Kim retorted: "But when people are asking for thousands of dollars, they need to know in order to get the money there are certain requirements."