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Report: Isle
budget for tourism
tops in U.S.
HTA's head, however, says
By Peter Wagner
the survey doesn't give the
whole picture
Star-BulletinHawaii's $60 million tourism budget leads states in promotional spending, according to national survey by the Travel Industry Association of America.
The recent survey of U.S. states and territories shows Illinois following Hawaii in tourism spending with a $55.5 million budget with Florida next with $54.3 million.
The survey, which does not look at private promotional expenditures, reports total spending of $644 million by state governmental agencies this year, a 13 percent jump from the year before.
"The challenge to these states is that competition is fierce," said travel association president William S. Norman.
"Each of them competes with one another -- not to mention other countries and other discretionary activities -- for visitors' dollars."
Robert Fishman, chairman of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, today said the survey falls short of an accurate picture of spending in the nation's tourism industry.
He noted the city of Las Vegas nearly triples Hawaii spending with its $162 million promotional budget and the cruise ship industry privately spends $400 million.
"Hawaii is not considered a big spender in the travel industry," he said.
The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, marketing arm of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, last year won a three-year, $114 million contract to promote Hawaii as a visitors destination.
In last year's Travel Industry Association study, Hawaii's $37.9 million promotional budget was edged out by Illinois' $40.1 million. Hawaii was fourth in the United States as a vacation destination last year, following Florida, New York and Nevada, according to the association.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority recently set a goal to increase visitor days by 2.7 percent this year, from 59.6 million days last year to 61.2 million this year.
Japanese visitors are a particular target.
The Travel Industry Association is a nonprofit organization representing the $540 billion U.S. travel industry.
