Posted on: Tuesday, May 27, 2003

EDITORIAL
Tourism Authority still getting act together

From the discord pouring out of the governor's second tourism summit, we can better understand why the industry favored holding the first summit behind closed doors.

Committees reporting to the second summit Thursday suggest that just about no assumption about the way the state runs and supports its No. 1 industry is beyond dispute.

The report that disturbed Gov. Linda Lingle the most outlined a lack of coordination in attracting airline flights to Hawai'i. Lingle says she intends to talk to airlines to find out what makes them want to add flights to Hawai'i. But it's no secret.

The heart of the matter is demand. If people want to come to Hawai'i enough to pay a profit-making fare, rest assured the airlines will find a way to get them here.

We're fooling ourselves if we hope airlines can increase demand by adding flights, even though some seats are already empty.

Our job is to persuade more people (preferably free spenders) to visit through more effective marketing. But comments from the tourism summit suggest there's little consensus on how to get the most bang for the least buck in that effort.

Some participants complained that the Hawai'i Tourism Authority had too many members lacking industry experience, while others griped that some board members are perceived as acting in their own political or business interests. One wonders how to find the right mix on the board of tourism expertise with oversight by lay persons to ensure that taxpayers, and not just visitor industry entities, are benefitting.

The HTA resulted after the 1997 Economic Revitalization Task Force found that the privately run Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau and various state agencies dealing with tourism lacked sufficient coordination, centralization and clout.

Now it appears the replacement body has yet to earn the confidence either of the industry, complementary businesses or (as is shown by frequent adjustment of its hotel room tax funding) the Legislature.

Improvement needs the attention of the governor, to be sure, but it also needs the buy-in of the public at large. That won't be accomplished behind closed doors.