HONOLULU — Come September, all three of Hawai‘i’s top state-funded tourism management and destination branding organizations, which together control more than $128 million in state funds, will have a Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander at the helm.
Aaron J. Sala’s appointment as the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau’s new president and CEO begins Sept. 1. He said of his appointment, which was announced Thursday at an HVCB membership event, “The responsibility is ours — there’s no one else to blame. These are some of the wants that we have articulated, and these boards have responded. The community has responded, and now we are in these positions of leadership and authority and now we have a responsibility to follow through in this work.”
Sala joins other major Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander leaders such as the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s interim President and CEO Daniel Naho‘opi‘i. The HTA board chair is Pacific Islander Mufi Hannemann, who also heads the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, a powerful, privately funded tourism advocacy organization.
HTA, which got $63 million from the state Legislature in 2024, awarded its longtime partner HVCB a $38.5 million multiyear contract in 2023 for destination brand management and marketing services, which will include pre-arrival visitor education.
Native Hawaiian Kuhio Lewis heads the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, which formed its tourism arm Kilohana to go after its first state-funded HTA tourism contract. In 2023, HTA awarded CNHA a $27.1 million multiyear destination stewardship contract, which includes post-arrival education.
Hannemann said, “This is historic that we have people of Polynesian ancestry at the helm of our No. 1 industry in the state.”
He added that the newfound scale is a natural evolution given Hawaii’s increasing focus on regenerative tourism, where visitors and hosts have a relationship of reciprocity.
“We are all about making sure that our Native Hawaiian culture and people are going to be at the forefront of many of the decisions that we make, and so I really believe that the timing (of Sala’s appointment) couldn’t have come at any better time, especially on the heels of the (13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture),” Hannemann said. “It wasn’t just an opportunity to welcome visitors or neighbors from the Pacific region. We were welcoming back our family, and Aaron was at the forefront of leading that charge.”
Sala has many career ties to his Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander roots as well as to tourism. Most recently, he served as festival director for the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, which was held June 6-16. The event brought some 2,200 delegates and their entourages from 26 of the 28 Pacific island nations to Hawai‘i.
Sean Dee, HVCB board chair and executive vice president/chief commercial officer for Outrigger Hospitality Group, said in a statement, “Aaron’s extensive experience and deep understanding of our cultural heritage make him the ideal leader for HVCB. His commitment to elevating Native Hawaiian and the Pacific Islander communities in his work is unparalleled. We are confident that under his leadership, HVCB will continue to thrive and promote the rich cultural tapestry of Hawai‘i.”
Sala succeeds Tom Mullen, HVCB senior vice president and chief operating officer, who served as interim president and CEO following the departure of John Monahan, who had served as the organization’s top leader since 2003.
Mullen said in a statement, “Aaron is the right person to lead HVCB into the future. His innovative approach and dedication to cultural preservation and promotion align perfectly with our mission. We are excited to see the positive impact he will have on Hawaii’s tourism industry and our community.”
Sala is a former chair of the HTA, and grew up in a family that was deeply immersed in the Hawai‘i’s tourism industry, and thus learned from an early age the benefits that tourism done right could bring to the community.
He said he understands the community’s frustration with the visitor industry, as he felt the divide as a Kainalu Elementary School fifth grader and even wrote a disparaging essay about tourism.
“We were given an assignment to write a position essay. At that time, the buses were taking tourists from Waikiki out to Polynesian Cultural Center. As they drove through Ka‘a‘awa and Kahuku, the kids were throwing rocks at the tour buses. I wanted to be one of those kids. My position was against tourism. I wanted all the tourists to leave. They had no place.”
Sala said as a child he was proud of the essay, and was astonished that his mother reactively negatively.
“She told me, ‘Before you open your mouth, before you write things down, before you think the way you think, consider who is putting food on the table and who it is that is supporting us.’”
Sala said his mother’s viewpoint came from having worked in the visitor industry since she was 12, starting as a Polynesian dancer in Waikiki and then at the iconic Aikane Catamarans under Kawika Kapahulehua, who was captain of the historic first voyage of the ocean-sailing canoe Hokule‘a.
He credits his mother with informing his broader views of modern-day tourism, along with his father, who made his career in tourism as a Waikiki entertainer, flight attendant for American Airlines and in executive management with South Pacific Island Airways. Sala said that later, during his doctoral studies, he traced the work of entertainer Mahi Beamer and learned that the stage was a place to express culture in meaningful and impactful ways.
“Hawaii has this very special energy about us that affords us the opportunity to celebrate difference in a very real way,” he said. “We do this every day as an aloha community, and so we serve as a model for what can happen in humanity and in the world. I believe that tourism is the platform to make that happen, and that’s why I want this job.”
Sala added that one of the reasons that he is so enthusiastic about tourism is that it offers a platform and a vehicle to celebrate difference.
“I come from the perspective and the philosophy that the key to bringing healing to the world is through color consciousness rather than colorblindness,” he said.
However, Sala added that he does not want to be “siloed and exclusive about the role of Native Hawaiian culture.”
“I’m also fascinated and continually curious about local Hawai‘i culture,” he said. “We have an endearing and enriched legacy with families who have made their home here for generations who are descendants of immigrant workers who came to Hawai‘i for many myriads of reasons. And so part of the celebration of color consciousness for me is leaning into that legacy, which I think is an enriching one.”
HVCB and CNHA competed in 2021 and 2022 for HTA’s most lucrative U.S. tourism contract. However, the fight ended with HTA pulling the award from both entities amid procurement protests. In 2023 a pathway forward was created when HTA awarded HVCB with a destination branding contract and CNHA with a destination stewardship contract.
Sala was in the competitive mix, too, initially competing against both HVCB and CNHA on the Wondros team, which included Leslie Dance, HTA’s former vice president of marketing and product development.
Lewis said, “I’m excited about Aaron coming into the fold in (the HVCB) role. He is not new to the tourism table, but I think our minds working together will create something great.
“It also is a serious shift in terms of leadership. You have three local Pacific Islanders/Native Hawaiians at the helm of tourism, and that is great for the state and for our visitor industry,” he said. “I think all three of us have in mind and in common finding the right balance where both residents feel supported by tourism and where tourism is supporting our community.”
Sala, who holds a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has long been involved in Hawai‘i’s tourism industry and in cultural consulting. He founded Gravitas Pasifika, a boutique firm dedicated to advancing Native Hawaiian, local Hawai‘i and Pasifika talent. He also established the Foundation for an Engaged Pacific, a not-for-profit dedicated to elevating Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities through leadership and professional development.
Helene “Sam” Shenkus, vice president and director of marketing for the Royal Hawaiian Center, lauded Lewis, who served for many years as the center’s former director of cultural affairs.
“He wears a lot of hats, and they all fit,” Shenkus said. “He has such a depth of experience, and he is very good at what he does, from my experience of having the pleasure of working with him. He is a Renaissance person. He’s very, very professional but he is very approachable. He’s very knowledgeable. He is also very humble. He is always willing to listen. He is very curious and will always ask questions. He’s perfect for the HVCB job.”
