Lingle backs
more funding for
tourism marketing

Because of improved visitor tax collections, the state Hawaii Tourism Authority could get its first major budget increase since the marketing oversight agency was established in 1999.

Gov. Linda Lingle's 2006 budget, which is being considered by the state Legislature, recommends that the authority's appropriation be increased to $71.4 million in 2006 from $63.2 million this year, with an additional rise to $72.8 million by 2007, said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.

"We're all keeping our fingers crossed that it will pass," Wienert said.

The proposed increases, which were discussed yesterday at a committee meeting of the state tourism authority, would appropriate recent increased collections of the state's transient accommodations tax collections to the HTA, Wienert said.

"The governor's position is that when things are good is when you should be reinvesting into your marketing programs and the state's tourism industry is doing well," Wienert said. The visitor industry finished 2004 with a near-record 6.9 million visitors and a record $10 billion in spending.

The industry is expected to continue growing with arrivals projected to grow another 2.8 percent in 2006 and 2.5 percent in 2007, Wienert said. Spending is projected to increase 5 percent in 2006 and 4.5 percent in 2007.

In other business, the HTA and the Hawaii Convention Center received positive financial audits from accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP. The audits did not recommend any changes.

"They found that everything was hunky dory," said Rex Johnson, executive director of the authority.

The audit found the Hawaii Convention Center posted a $2.7 million loss in its last fiscal year. However, that was the best year since the center opened in 1998, said Lloyd Unebasami, chief administrative officer for the HTA.

"They finished the year about $800,000 better than was expected," Unebasami said.

According to the audit, the center hit $10 million in revenues for the year ended June 2004 compared to $7.5 million in the year earlier, due to an increase in larger, corporate events and food-and-beverage sales.

While hosting larger events brought more revenue to the convention center, it also resulted in increased expenses due to extra labor demands, greater wear and tear on the facility, and higher operations costs. Convention center expenses rose 11 percent to $12.5 million.