KALAPAKI BEACH — Tourism industry leaders including Mayor Maryanne Kusaka agree that the teamwork, leadership and partnerships displayed by the industry on Kaua’i are main reasons the island should survive the terrorist-induced downturn in the island and state’s leading economic
KALAPAKI BEACH — Tourism industry leaders including Mayor Maryanne Kusaka agree that the teamwork, leadership and partnerships displayed by the industry on Kaua’i are main reasons the island should survive the terrorist-induced downturn in the island and state’s leading economic driver.
The leadership begins at the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau office on Rice Street, with Sue Kanoho, executive director, said several speakers at the KVB annual membership meeting and luncheon.
Doug Chang, former Kaua’i Marriott Resort & Beach Club manager and outgoing chair of the KVB board of directors, called the KVB staff an “awesome team.”
Kanoho handles situations from Hawaiian monk seals to Gov. Ben Cayetano with “true professionalism,” said Chang, adding that the entire island needs to understand that all must join forces for the future of Kaua’i.
“The future of the island is all our kuleana (responsibility),” said Chang, imploring those in the industry to “take partnership risks. Most of all, get involved,” said Chang, who recently left Kaua’i and the Marriott to become general manager of Hotel Hana-Maui.
He called the KVB, and the industry, “a community of us all.”
Kusaka, teary-eyed upon taking the podium briefly after viewing a videotape retrospective of her seven years in the mayor’s office, agreed that Kaua’i is holding its own in the aftermath of the terrorist strikes because of strong partnerships existing within the industry.
“I love aloha, and I love sharing it with everyone,” Kusaka said. “We’re not done yet, though.”
Chang explained that 2001 was a challenging year not only because of what happened in September and since then.
The explosion of technology and proliferation of Internet usage to gain information about travel destinations and book travel meant a change in the way KVB does business as well, he said. “We forced ourselves out of the box this year.”
Now more than ever, the island is dealing with a smarter, more informed visitor, he added.
Still, the island’s visitor industry in 2002 will continue making its pitch to specific potential travelers, as the strategy has yielded successes in the past.
Continued to be wooed to the island will be golfers, those wishing to get married or take honeymoons on Kaua’i, families, folks interested in health, wellness and the awesome physical splendor of the island, around 125 people were told at the KVB annual membership meeting at the Kaua’i Marriott Resort & Beach Club here last week.
While announcing the 2002 KVB media plan, Kirk Smith of the Honolulu firm Starr Seigle McCombs Advertising said the emphasis will continue on those niche markets, while enough flexibility will be maintained to allow the KVB to be ready to take immediate actions if unexpected occurrences take place.
While preaching to the choir that it is “not business as usual” and “expect a period of recovery,” Smith echoed the sentiments of most of those in attendance with feel-good words about 2002:
“Kaua’i has a very strong possibility to get through this quite well.”
Smith also echoed Chang’s feelings about the importance of the information superhighway, saying 56 percent of those requesting information about Kaua’i asked for that information to be sent via the World Wide Web. Traditional means of getting the word out about Kaua’i can’t be ignored, though, Smith added.
Through a partnership with Hawaiian Airlines, visions of Kaua’i will be larger than life on some 200 billboards throughout Portland, San Francisco and San Diego in the first quarter of 2002, he said.
Images of and information on Kaua’i will be included in at least 14 different publications aimed at those niche markets which have produced consistent Kaua’i travelers, he continued.
To make sure the word about Kaua’i gets spread far and wide, Lori Michimoto of McNeil Wilson Communications, the KVB’s public relations firm, outlined a plan to bring travel writers to the island, and to go to them in media centers like Los Angeles, New York and Honolulu.
A media blitz in New York City is planned for late next month and early February, and weeks were spent abroad by Kanoho and others meeting with travel writers, TV producers and others in the weeks following September 11.
The message remains constant, Michimoto said: Come to the island, and respect the land and its people.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
