ECONOMIC projections keep worsening as Hawaii's travel industry struggles to find a way through the worldwide financial crisis. Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James “;Duke”; Aiona are in Asia to drum up tourism, but their mission is daunting. The state can do little but hope for a global economic recovery.

In an 11-day trip planned before Wall Street began tumbling in late September, Lingle and Aiona are paying visits to Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea, where the U.S. visa-waiver program begins today. Under the present economic turmoil, any success in boosting tourism from Asia in the near future is unlikely, although the effort is commendable.

A report by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization predicted Thursday that the “;rich world”; will be in recession next year, presenting “;additional challenges for Hawaii's ailing visitor industry and the overall economy.”; That condition already has arrived. The UHERO report notes than all major European economies are in recession; Germany acknowledged that it had joined that group on the day the UHERO report was issued.

Leaders of 18 countries and the European Union met in Washington over the weekend to discuss the crisis, but little can be done during the U.S. presidential transition. President-elect Barack Obama has yet to name key players in his administration, rendering the meeting as little more than a photo-op and introduction for a more meaningful session in another three months.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts that economic output will decline by 1.4 percent this quarter and continue to contract through the first half of next year. Two quarters of such a slump is defined as a recession, and those countries' economies are expected to shrink by 0.3 percent in all of 2009.

The UHERO report, based on various assessments, is slightly more optimistic, projecting 0.1 percent shrinkage next year for the European Union, which OECD expects to drop by 0.5 percent. The two groups agree that the U.S. economy will decline next year by nearly 1 percent.

Japan's $1 trillion foreign reserves, mostly invested in U.S. Treasury bills, are looked upon as a potential source of assistance to other countries. Japanese legislators are discussing such a move while the U.S. Congress begins consideration of a stimulant package that would include assistance to American automakers.

Democrats concede that such a package probably will have to wait until Obama takes office. Any such bailout of auto manufacturers should include provisions that they swiftly revamp their operations to be competitive with foreign car makers that are thriving in their production on American soil.