Mayor tells tourism board to keep marketing NUKOLI’I – Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka last Friday told the Hawai’i Tourism Authority it shouldn’t worry about conducting environmental studies on impacts of tourism. Concentrate on tourism marketing, said Kusaka, and leave
Mayor tells tourism board to keep marketing
NUKOLI’I – Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka last Friday told the Hawai’i Tourism Authority it shouldn’t worry about conducting environmental studies on impacts of tourism.
Concentrate on tourism marketing, said Kusaka, and leave the environmental assessments to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).
Kusaka said the tourism authority (HTA) should encourage even more face-to-face tourism promotional visits to major markets.
The mayor said when HTA was formed three years ago, she and others had concerns about its funding source. She said they also worried about how it might impact the counties’ share of the transient accommodations tax (hotel-room tax).
HTA should continue to collaborate on and fund tourism promotion, said Kusaka, thanking the organization for providing funding for numerous events on Kaua’i.
HTA has allocated funds for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the NFL Quarterback Challenge, Visitor Aloha Society of Kaua’i (which helps visitors who are victims of crime while on the island), cruise-ship and Lihu’e Airport music and visitor greeting programs, and other festivals and events large and small.
Bob Fishman, HTA administrator, said the Legislature gave $1.2 million for a study to determine the state’s carrying capacity, or amount of visitors comfortably accommodated without doing environmental damage. He said this is one of the initiatives promoted by Seiji Naya, DBEDT director.
Kusaka said state land, especially parks, on Kaua’i have suffered “years of neglect.” She called on state legislators to get more funds for maintenance of Kaua’i state parks.
There were bills introduced in the state Legislature this year to tap the hotel-room tax and other sources for badly needed state parks maintenance funding, but none passed.
While Kaua’i has the most land under state Department of Land and Natural Resources control, it receives the narrowest of margins of funding for maintenance, Kusaka said.
HTA’s Big Island representative, Millie Kim, said Kusaka was the first mayor to speak at a HTA meeting, and that Kaua’i County Councilman Ron Kouchi was the first council chairman to address the association at one of the meetings.
Kouchi echoed Kusaka’s statements about funding for state parks, saying adequate funding for the DLNR for parks is “critical” for positive visitor experiences.
No amount of marketing dollars can undo visitors going back home and telling about litter and deteriorating trails, Kouchi said.
Giving the HTA some good news, Kouchi said the county budget funds nine new lifeguard positions, plus related equipment, at nearly $500,000.
Kouchi applauded the HTA for streamlining its funds application forms, but he encouraged the body to let people know they are applying for public funds.
Sue Kanoho, executive director of Kaua’i Visitors Bureau, said the HTA has exceeded her expectations, and that the Nawiliwili Harbor cruise-ship greetings probably wouldn’t be happening without HTA funding.
Mamo Cummings, president of Kaua’i Chamber of Commerce, said visitors are looking for more than sand, surf and sun, and that the visitor and resident interactions at small festivals funded by HTA are “powerful.”
Visitors love to learn about the history of towns, and ethnic groups, foods and customs, Cummings said.
Laurie Yoshida, executive director of both Visitor Aloha Society of Kaua’i and the Kapa’a Business Association, said the visitor-assistance organization maintains a list of 150 local businesses offering donations or discounts to visitors who are crime victims.
The Kapa’a Business Association is considering making the Kaua’i Coconut Festival a two-day event and is grateful for HTA funds for that festival, Yoshida said.
A representative of the Japanese Cultural Society thanked the HTA for providing funding, which has helped establish or continue student and teacher exchanges and has freed up the society’s own limited funds for other uses.
Dave Nekomoto, site manager for High Technology Solutions Kaua’i, a civilian contractor at the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, said the HTA gets a lot of bang for its buck where techno-tourism is concerned, too.
A problem, though, is the thinking that when people from the East Coast come here to work during the winter, they’re not on some “boondoggle,” but are actually working. People have to be made known that Kaua’i is a good place to do business, too, he said.
Nekomoto explained that as the result of Kauaians traveling abroad to symposiums, Kaua’i will be the host of a national fire symposium. Such exchanges are important for promoting the island not only as a visitor destination, but as a place for business and meeting gatherings.
He polled a recent group of business visitors and found 60 percent of them brought family or friends with them. For a three-day event, some people stayed as long as 13 days in the islands, he said.
Science and technology marketing efforts got the Helios Prototype crew to Kaua’i, after NASA had positive experiences here with Pathfinder, Pathfinder Plus and ALTUS, Nekomoto said.
Testing and evaluation programs bring money to the island, he concluded.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
