Against the dismal backdrop of even more economic turmoil ahead comes some not-so-encouraging news from the state auditor's office: The Hawai'i Tourism Authority lacks a strategic plan to manage the long-term growth of the state's visitor industry.

As the state's bread-and-butter industry, tourism plays a vital role in Hawai'i's economic sustainability and recovery plan. Now more than ever, the HTA needs a strategic plan of its own, as the agency charged with playing a leading role in helping us navigate these rough fiscal waters.

To be sure, the HTA is feeling the strain of difficult times. Under the weight of a double-digit tourism slump and the controversial departure of its former director, Rex Johnson, who ultimately resigned after admitting to forwarding pornographic, racist and sexist e-mails from his state computer, strong leadership is crucial to the HTA's future.

For his part, acting president and CEO Lloyd Unebasami has said the state's overall tourism plan — the Hawai'i Tourism Strategic Plan: 2005-2015 — provides a guide and that his agency does have criteria to measure its effectiveness. To his credit, Unebasami also rightly sees the audit as an opportunity to make improvements.

That's a good start. Given the crucial role of tourism in our already fragile economy, HTA must do more to get its own house in order. That means developing a strategic plan — specific to the agency — that addresses both its short and long-range goals. That plan must have the context of today's dire economic conditions as well as a sensible plan for the way forward.

For the sake of our economy and for taxpayers, it's up to the HTA to meet its fundamental mission of strategically managing Hawai'i's tourism in a sustainable way. It must take into account our economic goals as well as our values of preservation of resources and meeting the needs of the industry.

The costs of settling for business as usual are far too high.