Editor’s Note: This is the third installation of a rotating column to appear each week featuring the viewpoints of four leaders in Kaua‘i’s business community. As a result of the scope of work required to develop the Kaua‘i Tourism Strategic
Editor’s Note: This is the third installation of a rotating column to appear each week featuring the viewpoints of four leaders in Kaua‘i’s business community.
As a result of the scope of work required to develop the Kaua‘i Tourism Strategic Plan, island stakeholders were brought together to address Kaua‘i’s visitor industry strengths and weaknesses. We all are so busy in our day-to-day commitments, it took the funding of the plan by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and the leadership of the Office of Economic Development to hold bi-monthly meetings to create a template to work from in future months and years.
The plan is available on the county of Kaua‘i’s Web site, www.kauai.gov, listed under the Office of Economic Development.
While discussing the various areas of the plan, a few messages rose to the top for the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau that needed immediate attention. One topic was the misconception that the visitor industry gives back to the local community only at the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association’s Visitor Industry Charity Walk held in May each year. While the charity walk is one of the largest visitor industry efforts to raise funds for our local community organizations, KVB hosts four others leading up to the walk, all focused on raising funds for Kaua‘i. Additionally, most of Kaua‘i’s properties and activity companies give donations throughout the year through complimentary rooms, boat tours, dinners, spa treatments and other in-kind gifts.
In an effort to capture some of the “give-back” to our community, KVB recently conducted an informal survey to see what that number was for 2007. While not an exact read, it gave us an idea of what a slice of the pie looked like and showed the depth of the support. The total number in donations we were able to determine was $671,448.09, made up of only some of our properties and activity companies, all above and beyond the charity walk. More importantly, many of the visitor industry businesses choose their own programs, such as “Make A Wish,” to support year-round. All of this support still does not include the employee contributions that are so often given to programs like Aloha United Way.
We are proud to represent Kaua‘i’s visitor industry and extend a deep mahalo nui loa to all those who give so often to support our nonprofits and charities, which we hope ultimately touches us in one way or another.
• Sue Kanoho is the executive director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau. She can be reached at kauai@hvcb.org
