Posted on: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Isles a hard sell to U.S. taxpayers

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mainland media reports criticizing county officials for holding their annual conference here next month will not derail the state's strategy to market Hawai'i as a place to do business, a key state tourism official said.

The National Association of Counties' July 15-19 conference at the Hawai'i Convention Center has drawn flak from the media questioning whether county officials should spend taxpayer money to fly to Hawai'i during tight budget times.

"Sorry, Hawai'i, but you can't be heaven on Earth — average high temperature last July, 89 degrees; last January, 79 degrees — and a hot spot for public servants traveling with their constituents' money," wrote Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn. "Other than printing up and shipping out thousands of adhesive 'Kick Me!' labels, it's difficult to think of anything the National Association of Counties could have done that would have been more likely to bring its members under attack than scheduling its 2005 convention in Hawai'i."

Rex Johnson, Hawai'i Tourism Authority's executive director, said he has never seen such vitriol aimed at a meeting here.

"Just how damaging it is, you really don't know," Johnson said. "But it can't help you because all the things that we try to do to establish Hawai'i as a business destination, this puts clouds on that. So it certainly makes it harder, you bet.

"It just goes to show that we are not able to get out our message as to what a wonderful business destination we are as well as leisure," Johnson said. He said tourism officials will continue to pursue the convention and meetings market, including government events, which make up a small part of the business.

"I don't think it's earth shaking or the end of us trying to market business at all," he said. "It certainly won't be that, but it's kind of unfair when you get branded as something and you're fully able to compete as a business destination.

"I think we've got a good strategy on it that we're pursuing right now. Will we change our strategy trying to market to business or for conventions? No. We think we have a good strategy and we'll continue to pursue this strategy."

So far, county officials from Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin have abandoned the trip, citing concerns about spending taxpayers' money to go to the Hawai'i conference, according to the Associated Press.

The National Association of Counties spokesman Jeremy Ratner said about 280 people out of the expected 4,000 attendees have cancelled, which is in line with the number of cancellations every year. He also said the cancellation notices "have to do nothing with Hawai'i; they have to do with scheduling conflicts or illness or the like."

"There might be one official in one of those states that cancelled for whatever reason," he said. "There certainly haven't been entire statewide delegations canceling."

The county association's board of directors choose conference locations seven years in advance, Ratner said.

Ratner called the controversy, which he said may be driven more by the media than taxpayers, unfortunate "because our members are coming to our conference to work." He said the conference includes 50 workshops, national speakers and a symposium about methamphetamine abuse.

Association officials have said previous annual conferences held across the country in cities including New Orleans, Miami and Portland, Ore., have generated minimal complaints.

This isn't the first time government officials have been criticized for attending a conference in Hawai'i. Last year 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.

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 and other tourism officials have been running campaigns that aim to debunk negative stereotypes about holding meetings in Hawai'i and highlight the benefits Hawai'i offers and have circulated testimonials from organizations and businesses that have held events here.

"Would the taxpayers be upset if a county person from New York was going to (Los Angeles)? I don't know," said Johnson. "That's a long way away too, that's 3,000 miles. So I don't think it has to do with the length away from home or anything like that. I think it strictly has to do with Hawai'i's reputation as a leisure destination.

"It's perception — we've been working on it for years and years and years," Johnson said. "I don't see anything that we may have missed from a marketing standpoint. You can't control people taking cracks at politicians for whatever they do. And so I don't see where we could have done anything better."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.