honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Visitor industry plans to avoid 'deep discounts'

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i tourism officials will scale back on national television advertising if America goes to war with Iraq and instead focus on other promotional ideas to keep tourists coming, such as offering frequent-flyer bonuses, Rex Johnson, president of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, said yesterday.

The visitor industry will try to avoid the deep discounts that were offered in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Johnson told a group of 70 business people gathered for the second of four forums preparing for war.

"We discounted everything," Johnson said. "We don't think that's the way to go."

The industry is still trying to recover from losses after they discounted prices following the Sept. 11 attacks, he said.

If war breaks out, Johnson does not foresee tourists being stranded here.

But Hawai'i businesses should expect "cancellations, cancellations, cancellations," Johnson said.

The war preparedness forums are an attempt by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i to help businesses prepare and deal with the fallout of a war.

Others on yesterday's panel at the Pacific Club spoke about how leaders can emerge by the way they handle layoffs, deal with employee stress and treat employees who have responsibilities with the Hawai'i Air and Army National Guard and military reserves.

Businesses can help employees and their families create communication plans for themselves and prepare survival kits, said Greg Sato, an attorney with the employment law firm of Torkildson, Katz, Fonseca, Jaffe, Moore & Hetherington.

Linda Foye, president of Workplace Solutions Inc., told the group that business leaders should help employees handle stress — and that their businesses will benefit.

Employee stress affects workers compensation and insurance costs, Foye said. So employers who set up systems to deal with stress are exercising "sound business planning," said Foye. "This stuff isn't fluff."

And while employers may have to lay off people because of a war, they can try to ease the blow by maintaining employee health insurance, she said.

At the same time, they have to focus on those employees who still have jobs.

"Remember the survivors," she said, "meaning the folks who aren't laid off. They're going through a lot of emotions — 'Thank God I still have a job, I feel sorry for them, I feel guilty.' "