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HVCB honors
organizations, looks
ahead to 2001

The group welcomes
incoming chairman
Chris Resich

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By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

More than 1,300 Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau members and guests yesterday honored one individual and five isle tourism organizations for their leadership, and welcomed Chris Resich, CEO of Hilo Hattie, as the HVCB's chairman for 2001.

Resich has been active with the HVCB since coming to Hawaii in 1992 as vice president and general manager of the American Express travel operations locally.

He moved to New York for a top American Express post but returned at the start of 1995 to take the Hilo Hattie post.

Resich will take over the volunteer HVCB post Jan. 1 from Norm Reeder, United Airlines' managing director for Hawaii.

Reeder has held the post for more than two years while the HVCB went through the transition from annual funding approvals by the Legislature to the new structure of guaranteed funding out of the hotel room tax.

"We've come a long way," Reeder told the 98th annual meeting of the HVCB at the Hilton Hawaiian Village yesterday, which bureau officials said was the best-attended in the organization's history.

Reeder said the "battle cry" of the industry has long been for dedicated funding at a globally competitive level.

"We got it," he said.

"Now we can plan. We can operate like a business and do some long-range planning," he said.

Tony Vericella, the HVCB's salaried president and chief executive officer, said the goal for 2001 is to increase visitor spending by 5.1 percent.

The HVCB presented a Maile Award -- its highest honor for visitor-industry and community partners -- to Jim Sweeney, who supported the development of the Hawaii Convention Center when he was chief meetings planner for the American Dental Association.

Sweeney testified several times at the Legislature and two years before the center's July 1998 opening, he booked the 30,000-attendee ADA convention that was held last October.

Other Maile Awards went to the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, marking its 150th anniversary; the Polynesian Voyaging Society, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the launching of the sailing canoe Hokulea; the Kona Coffee Festival, now 30 years old; the Ala Moana Hotel, also 30 years old; and the Lahaina Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad.