Some meetings and conventions planners scrambling to move their events from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina are considering Hawai'i as an alternative.

About 10 groups have approached Hawai'i Convention Center officials about the possibility of hosting their conferences, said Randy Tanaka, sales and marketing director at the convention center. The size of the conferences range from about 800 to 15,000 attendees, he said.

The Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, which promotes Hawai'i to corporate meeting planners, has received inquiries from about six groups who are "serious about exploring Hawai'i as an alternative," said Mike Murray, HVCB's vice president of sales and marketing for corporate meetings and incentives. HVCB has also referred a handful of groups planning citywide conventions to the convention center, he said.

The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau has said all citywide conventions at the convention center are canceled through March next year. Small and mid-size meetings in hotels next year are not canceled, but depend on the status of the property and the city at the time, the bureau said on its Web site.

SMG Hawaii, the convention center's marketing and management firm, and HVCB said they are not seeking business from organizations that are moving their events from New Orleans.

"That's not our style. We'll never do that," Murray said. "For clients that have to move their groups because of devastation in the Gulf Coast and are looking at other alternatives, we will assist. ... They're looking around, and we're just facilitating their needs and trying to help them with some other alternatives."

Murray said Hawai'i is a good alternative for groups, noting that meeting planners already know that with tourism being the No. 1 industry, "we take our business very seriously."

Tanaka said: "Our customers will just come to us ... because we've had a long-term relationship with them."

But Tanaka said while the convention center is working hard to help those groups, his "best guess" is that many organizations will probably keep their events primarily in the Southeast.

He also said that given the tragic events in New Orleans, some may frown at moving a conference to Hawai'i, which already has been dealing with perceptions that the Islands are not a practical place to do business.

"If you put yourself in their position: 'New Orleans is canceled. We have a chance to go to Hawai'i. How is that going to be received by our membership and other organizations? ... Is there a more practical choice, given the situation?' " Tanaka said.

"They do a very careful examination of each destination, not only from an economic perspective but from a business perspective and then they look at continuing to improve and enhance the image of their own organization.

"If it's going to be perceived as a black eye to the organization, then the practical matter is they're not going to make that choice."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.