HTA extends The Hawaii Tourism Authority has approved a one-year extension of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau's $34.4 million contract to market the state as a vacation spot, which will run through the end of 2003. The authority, however, left the door open to the possibility of spinning off separate marketing contracts to cover specific parts of the world, if the bureau doesn't meet expectations in those markets.
marketing deal
The contract with Hawaii
Visitors & Convention Bureau
allows separate geographic dealsBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comThe authority's board approved the extension yesterday during a regular meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center, after the board convened in a private executive session for 45 minutes.
The nonprofit bureau has held the contract since the state authority was created in 1998. For now, the bureau will be responsible for marketing Hawaii to all leisure market segments. But if the state wants a better job on a particular segment, it now has the ability to split up the contract. The authority will also review the bureau's contract extension in July.
The authority wants more flexibility to deal with increasingly dynamic world events, said Frank Haas, director of tourism marketing for the HTA. For example, Hawaii has lost 22 percent of its Japanese tourists this year, and 17 percent of its Canadian arrivals, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Both markets have high-spending visitors.
If the authority decides to establish separate marketing contracts, the agency would likely put out a new request for proposals for those markets, Haas said. The visitors bureau would have a chance to compete.
"They could get it, but we need to open it up," said Mike McCartney, chairman of the authority's board.
Tony Vericella, chief executive of the visitors bureau, said he welcomed the possibility of a new process, and described it as a healthy way of dealing with a changing world.
Still, the authority will have to address several questions, such as whether having separate contractors will affect Hawaii's brand image, or whether overall marketing expenses would be duplicated, Vericella said.
Vericella said the visitors bureau would actively compete for any new contracts.
The value of next year's leisure marketing contract, $34.4 million, is a slight decrease from $35 million this year. The authority agreed to cut leisure spending by $2 million this year and $2.6 million next year after Gov. Ben Cayetano used a line-item veto to ax $5 million from the authority's budget.
Yesterday, the authority approved a plan to spread the cuts proportionally to each major leisure market, for the remainder of this year. Spending on Japan, the U.S. West and the U.S. East will be reduced by about 6 percent. Many of the cuts will come in the last quarter of the year.
The authority also approved the formation of an investigative committee to help Oahu's tourism. Oahu visitors arrivals are down 10 percent this year, more so than any other island, which is largely the result of a continuing slide in the Japanese market.
"There is an issue on Oahu that we need to look at," McCartney said.
Hawaii Tourism Authority