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Changing Hawaii
FORGET the guy driving behind you, honking like he's in New York City. Ignore the lady in front of you at customer service, throwing a fit as she complains about some faulty product or sassy salesperson. Angry about unpursued
opportunities
Neither is the angriest person in Hawaii today. Believe me, because I've met him.
His name is T. William Brophy and he is steaming mad -- in particular, at state officials in charge of Hawaii's tourism and business marketing to Latin America.
A Honolulu lighting contractor by trade, Brophy is also honorary consul general of Panama. He has lived in the islands for 18 years and, in 1992, founded the Hawaii Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"Promoting Hispanic consciousness -- in business, culture and tourism -- is my primary mission in life," Brophy says with all sincerity.
"There are genuine opportunities in Latin America but, if you go to state officials to ask them to help you promote it, they ignore you. They've ignored me for seven years."
It's a classic "Rashomon" story in which somebody's contorting the truth. But who?
Brophy says all he wants is for the state to take off its unyielding focus on Japan and the U.S. mainland, and to recognize the tremendous potential for wooing Latin American tourists and businesses to Hawaii.
Yet, he says, numerous phone calls, letters and online messages (his email address is panaconsulhawaii@aol.com) to state officials are ignored and never returned.
He's being brushed off when all he wants is an answer to a simple question: Why is Latin America, with 550 million people, not seriously targeted as a potentially lucrative visitor and industrial base?
Brophy himself has taken the initiative of representing the islands by attending trade shows like the annual "Expocomer" in Panama, the region's leading commercial event.
Last year's Hawaii booth -- decorated with hula skirts, bikini swimsuits, shell jewelry and other native products -- was even visited by Panama President Mireya Moscoso. A photo of her receiving a lei from Brophy made the front page of the country's largest newspaper, La Prensa.
"It was great," he enthuses, especially about a resulting educational partnership recently established between Kapiolani Community College and the University of Panama.
"But the responsible institutions in town -- including the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB) and the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) -- after being made aware of my efforts and achievements, have not paid attention. The city's Office of Economic Development under Manny Menendez has been helpful but otherwise it's frustrating."
OF course, there's another side to the story. Bob Fishman at the HTA and Wei-Wei Ojiri of the HVCB agree that Brophy is an enthusiastic and sincere advocate for Panama.
But there are only so many countries that state tourism officials can focus on and, for Latin America, Hawaii's designated target countries are Argentina and Brazil. And they do return his numerous calls and queries, and are not ducking him at all, they claim.
Tell this to Brophy and it merely stokes his anger to even greater temperatures. He's burning up. "I just want them to do their jobs," he says unhappily. "Hawaii is missing opportunities."
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.