As Hawaii’s legislative session begins to wrap up, the way forward for the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is in peril – as a proposed state price range invoice (HB300) doesn’t embody funding for the group, aside from $64 million allotted for repairs to the Hawaii Convention Center.
“No funding for HTA – zero – was included in the proposed state budget bill (HB300) that was agreed to in a conference committee meeting concluded late last night between the State Senate and House of Representatives,” HTA stated.
HTA stated the dearth of funding would imply that it might be unable to proceed with its “Destination Management Action Plans, support for community events and festivals statewide, Hawaiian cultural programs, popular sports events and Hawaii’s branding messaging which educates visitors and guides our visitor industry.”
Furthermore, two payments – SB1522 and HB1375 – “would dismantle HTA and fold it within the State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism,” HTA stated, including that “the new bills would create all sorts of challenges as to if and how this new agency will support community programs and provide effective destination management of tourism – all of which HTA is already providing.”
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