Ticket Plus
lands tryout at
Hawaii bases

The Honolulu company hopes
the 6-month test will lead
to a global pact at
military installations

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Ticket Plus Inc., which sells tickets to events and attractions through about 40 computerized ticket machines in the islands, says it will have a chance to go global if a test program with the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps in Hawaii goes as well as the company expects.

It could mean jobs for about 130 people in Honolulu, handling the operations of some 150 ticket outlets on U.S. military bases around the world, said Manny Sanchez, CEO of Ticket Plus, which moved its corporate headquarters to Honolulu in 1998. Sanchez said that could mean $160 million in annual gross sales (the price of the tickets as well as Ticket Plus handling fees).

Military officials aren't talking that big yet. All they will discuss is an initial six-month contract to test the system at bases in Hawaii, said Navy information technology program manager Karen Fritz. Fritz coordinates the program, which is a first-of-its-kind joint venture with all four services.

Fritz and other representatives of the Department of Defense's Morale, Welfare and Recreation branch said they are excited about the prospects.

Initially, Ticket Plus gets to install its vending machines at Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Force Base, Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Station, Camp Smith and Schofield Barracks on Oahu, and at Barking Sands on Kauai.

The test will be used to evaluate the system, which uses software from Tickets.com to verify the purchases and print the tickets. If the six-month test is successful, the Department of Defense has the option to sign Ticket Plus for four one-year contracts. Current ticket sales through military offices across the United States and in other countries are about $160 million a year, but officials said that could grow because of the ease with which people can use the Ticket Plus system.

It would also help financially, Fritz said. No tax money is used for the military ticketing programs, leaving them to run on income from purchases by military personnel and their families. Without electronic ticketing, bases often have to maintain substantial inventories of tickets that had to be paid for in advance, tying up capital, said Fritz, who is based in Millington, Tenn.

Dan Yount, chief of Army Leisure Services and based in Alexandria, Va., said the capital required can be very large indeed.

"It could easily be $300,000 to half a million" tied up in one office, said Yount, who was in Honolulu with other officials to sign the deal.

For example, a five-day visit to Walt Disney World can be about $200 and for a family of three or four it is a considerable sum.

Another advantage is that the smallest outlets, the ones that can't afford to maintain much inventory, will now be able to sell the highest-price tickets, Fritz said. "Our sailors don't lose out because a station is small," she said.

Yount, Fritz and Marine Corps recreation business specialist David Overbagh, from Quantico, Va., said there is an advantage to military families in buying at military outlets rather than off-base, about a 15 percent savings.

Sanchez sees a some big pluses for Hawaii tourism if the system does expand beyond Hawaii, as he expects.

"We'll be selling tickets for attractions like the Polynesian Cultural Center, Atlantis Adventures and the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park," he said. Ticket Plus clients also include the University of Hawaii sports events, entertainment at the city's Neal Blaisdell Center, shows by Tom Moffat Productions, the Hawaii Theatre and others.

Ticket Plus, which scored a coup by getting its ticket machines into all the Foodland and Sack N Save stores last year, also sells tickets online through its Web site www.hawaiitix.com.

Sanchez said more than 1,000 vendors sell tickets through the military outlets.