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HAWAII
Search is on for Maui Visitors Bureau head

WAILUKU >> The Maui Visitors Bureau has set an application deadline of June 20 for an executive director to succeed Marsha Wienert, who will assume her new job as tourism liaison in Gov. Linda Lingle's Cabinet on July 1.

Bureau Chairman Donn Takahashi said a search committee will be reviewing applications and hopes to have a new executive director by the end of this month.

Takahashi said timing was important because the bureau needs to respond to a number of requests for proposals in August.

As executive director for the Maui Visitors Bureau, Wienert had responsibility for the overall operation, as well as marketing for Maui, Lanai and Molokai. But Takahashi said the bureau intends to seek a person later to assume the marketing responsibilities.

Takahashi said the executive director's annual pay will be $85,000 or more, depending on qualifications and experience.

Applications may be faxed to (808) 244-1337 or e-mailed to maui@hvcb.org. The telephone number for the Maui Visitors Bureau is (808) 244-3530.

Honu Group donates $100,000

Ten local arts organizations have each received a $10,000 donation from Honu Group Inc., developers of the 2100 Kalakaua luxury shopping center in Waikiki, from the proceeds of the center's $175-a-head grand opening in December.

Honu said it gave out the $100,000 on behalf of the partnership with its retailers designed to promote culture and the arts in Hawaii. Participating retailers are Tiffany & Co., Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Gucci, Tod's and Boucheron.

Receiving the cash, which they are free to use for their programs as long as one-third goes to educational outreach for children, were: The Contemporary Museum, Diamond Head Theatre, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Hawaii State Art Museum, Hawaii Theatre Center, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu Symphony, Iolani Palace, Hawaii Public Television and Hawaii Public Radio.

The "Storyteller, Celebrating Art and Culture in Hawaii" partnership gets its name from the 7-foot bronze sculpture by Shige Yamada that stands in front of the center.

Bankoh signs foreign exchange

Bank of Hawaii Corp. has contracted with Horsham, Penn.-based Financial Software Systems' Spectrum Treasury System to manage its foreign exchange and international money market activities. The bank, which licensed Spectrum in mid-January, is using the system to monitor and control counter-party limits, trader limits, currency limits and country limits.

Banks stocks pay dividends

Central Pacific Financial Corp. said yesterday its board of directors has declared a second-quarter dividend of 16 cents a share, payable July 25 to shareholders of record as of June 30. The dividend remains the same as last quarter.

Meanwhile, CB Bancshares Inc.'s 11-for-10 stock split, represented by a 10 percent stock dividend, went into effect today. The shares closed yesterday at a split-adjusted $60.35. CB also paid a previously announced cash dividend today of 12 cents a share.

High yield nuts

ML Macadamia Orchards LP, which pays the highest quarterly dividend yield of any Hawaii stock, said yesterday that the board of directors of general partner ML Resources Inc. has maintained the quarterly cash distribution at 5 cents a unit. The payout will be made Aug. 15 to unit holders of record as of June 30.

The dividend, yielding 5.9 percent as of yesterday's close, represents the Big Island company's 69th consecutive quarterly distribution.

U.S. tourism sales slowed in quarter

The U.S. tourism industry slowed in the first quarter, although sales are still above their low point in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

U.S. tourism industry sales fell at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said yesterday.

Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted $177 billion in the first quarter. This followed a 6.9 percent rise in the fourth quarter to $178.4 billion, revised from a previous estimate of a 4.6 percent increase. Sales of air transportation were higher than first estimated, the report said.

The numbers show the tourism industry is still struggling to regain its strength from before the terrorist attacks.

Mortgage rate drops to another record low

Mortgage rates slid to new lows this week, good news for people looking to buy a home or refinance the one they already own. The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to a record low of 5.21 percent for the week ending June 13, Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, reported yesterday in its weekly nationwide survey.

It marked the fifth straight week and the 10th time this year that rates on this benchmark mortgage fell to an all-time weekly low.

This week's rate surpassed the previous low rate of 5.26 percent set last week. The new rate marks the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking 30-year mortgages in 1971.