County officials from Hutchinson, Kan., to Wilmington, N.C., are being publicly criticized for planning to attend the association's annual conference at the Hawai'i Convention Center in July.

Critics have said the price tag of about $2,500 to $3,000 per person is too much to spend at a time when some counties are dealing with tax increases and program cutbacks. One Alabama county official has raised concerns about what he said is the public's perception that a trip to Hawai'i would be more of a vacation rather than a necessary meeting.

Such concerns about distance, costs and Hawai'i's sunny vacation image are not unfamiliar to Hawai'i tourism officials. The complaints about the National Association of Counties conference comes less than two months after ABC News aired reports criticizing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other top federal officials for attending the November Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The ABC reports, which said officials attended the meeting at "a sumptuous resort and spa on Waikiki Beach," showed Ridge sitting poolside at a time when Homeland Security had imposed a hiring freeze and spending cuts.

"You're getting two or three of them right in a row, and certainly this sets us back," Johnson said. "We think we are very competitive as a business destination, and when you have these types of things go on you really truly understand that there is this, quote, boondoggle effect that is out there that bothers decision makers."

Ed Ferguson, deputy executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Counties, said previous annual conferences were held "literally all over the country" in cities including New Orleans, Miami, Chicago and Portland with "minimal complaints."

"It's a little more vocal this year," he said.

Ferguson said about 3,000 to 4,000 people are expected to attend the conference, about the average attendance for annual conferences. He also said the National Association of Counties has held its Western Interstate Region conference in Hawai'i several times without complaints.

"I'm hoping that people will understand that this is, while an attractive venue for the conference, certainly an educational and serious meeting of county officials where they will discuss issues and learn about problems that counties are facing this year," Ferguson said. "We're quite confident that if people will be open-minded and take a look at the agenda and the issues that are going to be discussed that they'll understand that it's not a junket."

HTA spends about $400,000 of its $43 million marketing budget on business branding. SMG, the Hawai'i Convention Center's marketing and management firm, spends about $6 million a year marketing the center primarily to business groups.

SMG officials recently began a public-relations campaign addressing issues such as freight and air costs. Its most recent news release, sent to meetings and industry trade publications last month, highlights "10 Ways Meetings and Conventions are More Productive in Honolulu, Hawai'i," and notes "delegates, conscientious about Hawai'i's vacation image, are likely to work harder to combat notions about productivity in Hawai'i."

"It's something we've lived with for a very long time," Johnson said. "We just need to do a better job of showing people that Hawai'i is a great place to do business. I think we made some great strides there. But again, you're fighting this perception of us as only a leisure destination and that's just not true. You just gotta keep pounding (away) that we are a great place to do business."