The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority advisory board — composed of eight new members and four returning ones — met Thursday with the hope of achieving a paradigm shift that proves its trustworthiness to manage state tourism and the tens of millions of dollars of public money that funds it.
The meeting began with an opening cultural protocol from one of Gov. Josh Green’s new advisory board picks, Troy Lazaro, a kumu hula and Native Hawaiian cultural steward, who spoke about huliau — which means to turn.
Lazaro said, “We’re taking what was done in the past and giving it a new light and a new life.”
The new board has a lot to prove following the scandals of earlier this year, some of which remain unresolved. HTA has undergone dramatic leadership shake-ups as it has struggled to address significant staffing shortages and problems from allegations of a toxic work environment to inappropriate freebies, procurement violations and late payments to contractors.
Named and unnamed HTA officials have even been sued by Isaac Choy, HTA vice president of finance and acting chief administrative officer, who was put on unpaid leave May 9 at the direction of the state attorney general and the Department of Human Resources amid allegations he made racist and sexist remarks on the job.
Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki), chair of the House Committee on Tourism, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1571, which became Act 132 upon Green’s signature, after losing faith in HTA and its prior board.
Green and Jimmy Tokioka, state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director, have broader oversight of HTA under Act 132, which downgraded the HTA board from a policy-setting role to an advisory role. Under the new act, DBEDT has greater oversight of HTA, and while the new HTA advisory board will select its own president and CEO, that person will report to Green.
Green asked for courtesy resignations in June from the entire 12-member board to address long-standing concerns over governance and alignment with state priorities.
Former HTA board member Mufi Hannemann requested in a July 1 resignation letter to Green obtained by the Star-Advertiser through a public records request that, “the administration and board continue to proceed to honor their public and private commitment to conducting a thorough, above-board investigation, and ensure it is brought to a proper conclusion — with the results released transparently. Too many past and present employees have come forward, and at least a couple of board members have filed complaints. Many of them have been hurt, maligned, or silenced. They deserve clarity, closure, and justice.”
Former HTA board member David Arakawa said in his resignation letter, which the Star-Advertiser obtained through a public records request, that he realized “ that in the past few years, there have been questions of accountability, judgment and responsibility relating to HTA, however, during my tenure I made every effort to maintain the trust of the State Administration, the Legislature, and the public.”
Watching and waiting
Prior HTA board members, James McCully, Kimberly Agas, Chris West and Lisa Paulson were asked to serve on the new advisory board. New appointees include Lazaro, Leah Belmonte, Mericia Elmore, Terry Fischer, Linda Wong, Joel Guy, Danny Ojiri and Lanai Tabura.
Tam said he heard that the new HTA advisory board’s first meeting went well, but that he still is drafting a bill that would turn HTA into an independent, nonprofit Destination Stewardship Organization (referred to as a DSO), which was recommended in a $300,000 third-party governance study, released in July 2024 by Better Destinations LLC, founded by Cathy Ritter.
Tam said, “We brought the HTA closer to the executive branch through Senate Bill 1571, but there are other things that we should be looking at and I just want to have that discussion with the rest of the Legislature next year.”
HTA also got an earful Wednesday evening from the most outspoken of the 50 or so Oahu residents who attended a community session to share their thoughts about what tourism should look like in the future. They told HTA that better management is needed as tourism has resulted in overcrowding, traffic congestion, safety hazards and degradation of resources, and is creating negative experiences for both residents and visitors.
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii published a post on Aug. 19 that opined that instead of tweaking HTA’s governance model, the state should cut the agency loose.
Malia Blom Hill, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii policy director, told the Star-Advertiser on Wednesday that, “We are basically using taxpayer funds to favor and help one specific industry. Yes, it’s an important industry but still is that the proper use of taxpayer money? Shouldn’t these private businesses be able to handle their own promotion?”
Hill added that, “historically, at least according to the State Auditor, they haven’t done a great job of being accountable, responsive and some things like destination management are little more than rhetoric. … You also have on the evidence historically they don’t do a great job of shepherding taxpayer money.”
Tokioka told the Star-Advertiser on Thursday that he does not support relying solely on Hawaii’s visitor industry to fund tourism promotion as “the state takes so much from the visitor industry via the TAT (transient accommodations tax) that it’s incumbent that we help the industry as a whole from the top hotels to the mom-and-pop businesses.”
Growing optimism
Tokioka said his goal is “to make HTA as successful as it possibly can be.”
“I feel with the changes that were made in SB 1571 that the lanes have been clarified, and I think the board will be cohesive with the authority, with DBEDT, with the Governor’s Office and the Legislature,” he added.
Though the stakes are high for HTA, its new advisory board got down to business without the infighting that plagued the prior HTA board, and finished its agenda promptly.
The election of a new HTA advisory board chair was deferred until a future meeting. Two returning HTA board members — Kimberly Agas and James McCully — were selected as co-vice chairs.
McCully said, “I’m eternally optimistic but even more so now. I think we have good guidance from the state DBEDT director. I think we have a lot more clarity in the role of the board.”
He said a key difference is that the “new advisory board is constrained in its powers, which perhaps will lead to a more service-oriented approach. The Achilles’ heel of the previous board was the unwillingness of board members to just look forward to service rather than the mechanics of the board. ”
McCully said another positive development is that “we have the green light to get a good CEO. I think the applicants for the CEO position are going to feel very comfortable with the new structure of HTA.”
Tokioka said Bishop &Co., the contractor running the HTA president and CEO search, had received more than 400 applicants before the search was paused, and he expects that once the search resumes more applicants will apply.
The board also postponed committee appointees to allow members time to consider their top choices among the Branding Standing Committee; the Administrative Standing Committee; the Ho‘okahua Hawai‘i Standing Committee, which provides destination stewardship guidance; and two newly created committees, the Sports Tourism Committee and the Film Production Tourism Committee — which address key tourism priorities from Green’s administration and from DBEDT.
Source: The Garden Island
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