The Hawai‘i Tourism, Business, & Community Coalition’s origins can be traced to Zoom meetings between HLTA, the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i, Hawaiian Airlines, and Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation. We were in the earliest days of the pandemic, and all came to the same conclusion: nobody was planning for how to re-open for travel or how to begin the economic recovery process. At the same time, we all recognized the importance of the tourism sector to the overall economy and adhered to the old adage: so goes tourism, so goes Hawai‘i’s economy.
Our first initiative was the Mākaukau campaign, an educational campaign that illustrated the changes that businesses around the state had made in response to the pandemic and highlighted the fact that we were ready to welcome visitors back to our shores. The campaign videos received hundreds of thousands of views across multiple platforms and started the monumental task of proving to our community that tourism could return while also keeping our community safe.
In the two years since that initial campaign, the HTBCC has grown to include dozens of organizations from economic sectors including lodging, ground and air transportation, chambers of commerce, trade associations, the service industry, community organizations, and labor unions. As a coalition, we have advocated for causes that are important to us and staunchly opposed actions and proposals that would harm our economy.
The strength of our coalition lies in the diversity of its members; we’ve been able to bring a wide-ranging slate of organizations and individuals to meetings and discussions with elected officials at both the State and county levels, including Gov. Ige, Lg. Green, and the mayor of each county. With such a large group representing so many different businesses and jobs, we have been able to bring decision makers to the table and truly move the needle on public policy.
Here is a short list of some of the recent issues on which the HTBCC has worked:
The HTBCC now meets regularly to discuss our legislative priorities and form cohesive fronts on issues that are important to our members.
Our first initiative was the Mākaukau campaign, an educational campaign that illustrated the changes that businesses around the state had made in response to the pandemic and highlighted the fact that we were ready to welcome visitors back to our shores. The campaign videos received hundreds of thousands of views across multiple platforms and started the monumental task of proving to our community that tourism could return while also keeping our community safe.
In the two years since that initial campaign, the HTBCC has grown to include dozens of organizations from economic sectors including lodging, ground and air transportation, chambers of commerce, trade associations, the service industry, community organizations, and labor unions. As a coalition, we have advocated for causes that are important to us and staunchly opposed actions and proposals that would harm our economy.
The strength of our coalition lies in the diversity of its members; we’ve been able to bring a wide-ranging slate of organizations and individuals to meetings and discussions with elected officials at both the State and county levels, including Gov. Ige, Lg. Green, and the mayor of each county. With such a large group representing so many different businesses and jobs, we have been able to bring decision makers to the table and truly move the needle on public policy.
Here is a short list of some of the recent issues on which the HTBCC has worked:
- House Bill 862 – this measure made significant changes to HTA and stripped that county allocation of TAT monies. The HTBCC successfully lobbied Gov. Ige to veto this measure and came within a single vote of sustention in the Senate.
- Re-opening travel in 2021 – after Gov. Ige issued a request for all nonessential travel to halt, the HTBCC urged him to re-open as soon as the Delta surge had subsided. We were ultimately successful in this regard with the Governor making an announcement that nonessential travel to Hawai‘i could resume.
- Safe Travels Booster Mandate – in meetings with Gov. Ige, Lg. Green, and General Hara, the HTBCC advocated for the issuance of new public health guidance rather than the establishment of a booster mandate for the Safe Travels program. After meeting with State officials and writing a letter to the Governor, it was announced that the booster would not be mandated.
The HTBCC now meets regularly to discuss our legislative priorities and form cohesive fronts on issues that are important to our members.
House Bill 862
In 2021, the HTBCC rallied 35 organizations from across the state to urge Gov. Ige to veto HB862. Please click the link above to read the letter in its entirety and view the signatories.
After Gov. Ige's veto of HB862, the HTBCC went on to petition each member of the Senate to ask for their vote to sustain the veto. The photo above will link you to the full letter.
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Re-Opening Travel
In August of last year, Gov. Ige made a request for nonessential travel to halt after an alarming rise in cases. The impact of this announcement was felt immediately.
Following a meeting with the HTBCC, we issued the above letter with reports from numerous sectors of the statewide economy. Gov. Ige announced that travel could resume shortly after this letter was sent.
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Safe Travels Booster Mandate
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Although the tourism industry has been overwhelmingly supportive of vaccination and booster shot efforts, we felt strongly that a new mandate requiring a COVID-19 booster shot to qualify for the Safe Travels program's vaccine exemption was not necessary and would negatively impact economic recovery efforts. After a series of meetings with Gov. Ige, Lt. Gov. Green, and Gen. Hara, Gov. Ige opted to instead issue new guidance and not require the booster shot.
