Hawaii
Scolded tourism officials reconsider bringing Pro Bowl back
After being scolded for passing up on a Pro Bowl contract, Hawaii Tourism Authority board members told lawmakers today they would reconsider the deal.
Last week the NFL offered to bring the Pro Bowl back to Hawaii in 2011 and 2012. But a divided board rejected the offer mostly because the all-star game would be played before the Superbowl not after it as usual.
Today, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who's been tracking the deal from the sidelines says the NFL's offer is final.
"I like to believe in our next board meeting march 6, we would have an affirmative vote; securing the requisite number of votes which is seven, that would vote in favor of accepting the NFL's offer.
The game gives the state a $28 million annual boost. Meantime, Hawaii's tourism industry is wrapping up a cross-country promotional tour to attract visitors.
Comments
Hawaii's native son, President Obama, has counseled us to be part of change. Maui can lead change. It's hard to overstate Maui's opulent beauty. Unfortunately the travel world discovered that Maui ranks as the most expensive vacation island in the world.
In affluent times vacationers remember there is no better island than Maui. However, in today's deep recession vacationers travel, but not to expensive Maui. The number of Maui visitors dropped 15.2 percent last year. If changes are not implemented quickly, 2009 will be worse. This is no time to be snooty. We need heads in beds.
Restaurants, supermarkets, golf courses, attractions, activities, shops and galleries, etc. need to step back and make a reality check. Maui's restaurants, bars, activities, etc. remain reluctant to change and make deep cuts in prices for vacationers in Maui. Affordable attractions, restaurants, activities, golf courses, etc., attract the penny-pinching travelers who flocked to Maui in affluent times as prices soared.
To attract vacationers to Maui's aloha culture, idyllic weather and beaches and fill up resorts, activities, eateries, etc., offer kamaaina prices to all vacationers with a USA driver's license. The word will quickly spread that Maui is part of the change. President Obama, no doubt, will be proud that Maui is leading change to quickly restore jobs and the economy.
Milan Moravec
Honokowai/Walnut Creek, Calif.
Who will step up for tourism crash?
"Heads in beds" in Hawaii dropped to 60 percent in December. Projections are that the drop in visitors and their spending will exceed last year's numbers in 2009. Everyone from our governor down to our mayors knew that the slide was gaining momentum as it accelerated downward.
Blame is real, assignable and the true measure of a person's character. The sort of character that all should cultivate -- but especially people with power and political position -- consists, first of all, in the strength to say, "I did it."
Our political representatives and appointed officials claim they took all "prudent and appropriate measures" and "mistakes were made." Just as our pro athletes coolly insist that their steroid-tainted urine is a result of innocent mistakes.
Who among our politicians and political appointees will declare, "I did it! I saw the vacation industry crisis coming and continued to operate and spend the way we have and did not make unpopular choices." (Perhaps there is more than one who can make the claim?)
There are no "lessons learned" for resuscitating the future of Hawaii's vacation industry without "I did it. The buck stops here."
Milan Moravec
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