Bills aim to restore state
tourism marketing funds

Two bills aimed at restoring funds for the Hawaii Tourism Authority to spend on promoting the tourism industry are moving through the Legislature.

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House Bill 997 and Senate Bill 1729, which seek to return a greater portion of hotel room tax collections to the HTA and bump up funding for the Hawaii Convention Center, passed committee votes this week and face floor votes.

"This is our most important piece of legislation because it will help restore the HTA's funding to a level where they can truly make a difference and can carry out their mandate," said Murray Towill, president of the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association.

The association, the HTA and others in the industry have been lobbying for increased funding since 2002, when the state cut the HTA's portion of the transient accommodations tax from 37.9 percent to 32.6 percent, Towill said.

"At the time, the feeling was that the HTA wasn't as accountable as it should be," Towill said. "But, in the interim, we believe that they have demonstrated accountability."

Both the authority and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau have been hit with negative state audits in the past few years, raising the issue of how well they spent their funds.

The visitor industry ended 2004 with a near-record 6.9 million visitors and a record $10.3 billion in spending, said Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison. But Hawaii needs to continue to market aggressively if it wants to stay ahead, she said.

Competition is stiff in the visitor industry, said Ken Phillips, public relations manager for Pleasant Holidays, the state's largest travel wholesaler.

"There are lots of attractive destinations. To be successful, Hawaii needs to be consistently in the public's face, getting their message to the masses," he said.