Tourism board The board of the Hawaii Tourism Authority today unanimously approved a new company to market the Hawaii Convention Center for three and a half years period for $14 million, replacing the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau for the first time since the center's opening.
picks SMG to
market center
By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comSMG, which manages the center on a contract that lasts through June, is set to take over the marketing contract in January and run through June 2006. A new state law, aimed at fostering change at the $350 million convention center, mandates that the center's manager must also serve as its marketer.
SMG's contract will be reviewed every 18 months with targets to be approved by the HTA. SMG, based in Philadelphia, markets only two other convention centers in the United States.
SMG will also have access to a $2 million marketing flexibility fund, which allows it to go after significant conventions. The visitors bureau is holding onto its larger contract to market all of Hawaii to tourists, but the authority this morning cut that contract by $1.25 million to $33.2 million for 2003.
The visitors bureau also has a $2 million contract to secure conventions and meetings that would be held at Hawaii hotels, not the convention center.
The bureau will cut most of the money, $830,000, from developmental markets, said Tony Vericella, HVCB president and chief executive. Those markets -- Asia outside Japan, Europe, Oceania, and Latin America -- send a small amount of visitors to Hawaii, but are seen as having a larger potential. The cuts will leave $2.45 million to market Hawaii in those locations, allowing the bureau to maintain a presence, albeit a smaller one, Vericella said.
"Anytime you're stuck with less resources, everybody has to weigh the pros and cons," he said.
The bureau will cut $100,000 from its administrative budget, leaving it with $2.2 million. Market research will be cut by up to $190,000 to about $500,000.
The bureau is still evaluating its personnel needs.
The tourism authority board also approved spending up to $75,000 to work with the state auditor on a mandated audit of HVCB's performance on its leisure marketing contract. The audit, expected to be done by April or May, will also include and audit of the tourism authority, since it is the oversight body, said Rex Johnson, executive director of the authority.
A state audit earlier this year blasted the HTA for lax oversight of spending.
Hawaii Tourism Authority
