Hawaii's World
By A.A. Smyser
Thursday, April 18, 1996
Hawaii economy needs more stimulation
DUNCAN MacNaughton is one of Hawaii's most visionary businessmen. He confesses that neither he nor his partners realized 500,000 foreign visitors a year would travel to Waikele Shopping Center's combination of megastores and factory outlets that they opened in time for Christmas 1993 shopping.
But they did have the vision that such a center would succeed even though it was relatively far from downtown Honolulu - and it did. They got the idea from their earlier success in bringing Costco to Hawaii in 1986. Among many other ventures with varying partners, MacNaughton also introduced Blockbuster Video here.
Recently he talked to the Social Science Association about "How We Can Stimulate Economic Recovery Before the Next Millennium." Here are some of his thoughts:
- Build on tourism. It is expected to produce over 23 percent of our gross state product this year, 26 percent of our employment and nearly 24 percent of our capital investment. Its impact here is more than double its impact on the U.S. mainland. Focus on Oahu.
- Develop additional Hanauma Bay-type attractions. Don't hesitate to charge tourists to help finance them.
- Clean up the Ala Wai Canal for appearance's sake and to make it a venue for water activities.
- Enhance the natural attractions of sites such as Diamond Head Crater, which might, for example, sensitively sustain an amphitheater for events like the Merrie Monarch Festival.
- Give greater support to sporting events and the arts.
- Encourage heritage development. Save the aloha spirit, which truly is one of the few assets that differentiate Hawaii from competing visitor destinations.
- Recognize and support activities that add to the visitor experience, such as retailing.
- Give more support to the endangered Travel Industry Management School at the University of Hawaii.
- Promote the rehabilitation of Waikiki. Encourage developers with tax incentives and streamlining red tape. Let them put up as much as they tear down. Not allowing this discourages rehabilitation. Figure out how to deal with the coming peak-period collisions between visitors drawn here by our new convention center and nonconvention visitors who would fill up Waikiki anyway at those times.
MacNaughton told a tale of three cities dealing with a development group wanting to build aquariums in their metropolitan areas. One is under construction on Pier 39 in San Francisco. Another is going up on the Mall of the Americas in Minneapolis. Negotiations with the state of Hawaii for one near downtown Honolulu haven't got to first base.
A common denominator of negotiations between government in Hawaii and developers, he said, is a lack of trust, which somehow must be overcome.
HE suggested we might copy San Francisco, which in the 1980s, under Chamber of Commerce auspices, brought together government leaders, labor leaders and business CEOs to identify key priorities for stimulating the city's economy and to find ways to move ahead on the first half dozen.
He praised the ease with which development can take place in Las Vegas. A listener said he finds Las Vegas environmentally offensive. MacNaughton said we can find a better middle ground between protecting our environment and necessary stimulation of our economy.
A.A. Smyser is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
His column runs Tuesday and Thursday.