Hawaii Island in the spotlight

Hawaii Island is in the spotlight this weekend as the state’s tourism arm works to show 30 meeting planners Hawaii is a preferred destination for business tourism.

An effort by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau to bring more meetings, conventions and incentive-based travel to the islands, the meeting planners, which hail not only from corporations, but also from independent and third-party meeting planning companies, are spending the weekend traversing West Hawaii’s resorts and facilities whilst taking in a few activities and cultural experiences.

“These planners are sought after highly by other destinations that are trying to bring more to their areas, state or country,” said Michael Murray, HVCB Corporate Meetings and Incentives Division vice president of sales and marketing. “While the Big Island gets the huge benefit, the real goal is to showcase Hawaii and show that it’s an ultimate place to hold meetings, conventions and incentives-(based travel).”

The 30 people will also take part in a tree planting atop Mauna Kea as part of the bureau’s theme for the four-day conference, which kicked off Saturday. After the Hawaii Island events, the planners can opt to visit other islands, he said.

The conference is the first of its kind to bring meeting planners to Hawaii, Murray said. It is hoped by hosting the planners that the state, including Hawaii Island, will see more bookings for meetings, conventions and incentives-based travel. An example of incentive-based travel would be a company offering a trip to Hawaii for its top employees.

The planners are also part of Meeting Planners International, or MPI, which is based in Dallas and includes 21,000 members around the world.

“Our strategy is to partner with MPI, a trade organization that represents meeting planners, to showcase the attributes that the Big Island has to offer so that these planners can consider booking a future meeting with us,” he said.

Hosting the meeting planners is being paid for by the bureau, which falls under the auspices of the Hawaii Tourism Authority that receives state funding to promote the islands. Murray, who was on Maui Friday, was unable to provide a total spent on hosting the planners, but noted many of the hotels are covering room costs and round-trip airline tickets were purchased at a discount, ranging from $600 to $1,000 apiece, he said.

“We need to be able to bring these customers out and have them experience the products and services around the state because you really don’t have the same opportunity with a brochure,” Murray explained about the need to invest in promoting Hawaii as not only a tourism destination, but also a business destination. “The intensity of conversion when you have the clients come out is a lot higher.”

According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s April monthly visitor statistics, meetings, conventions and incentives-based travel drew 40,109 visitors to the islands — down 14.5 percent from April 2011 when 46,908 visitors arrived. Year-to-date, the meetings, conventions and incentives-based travel is down 6 percent overall from 2011.

Of the MCI visitors in April, 6,909 traveled to Hawaii Island, according to the statistics. In 2011, 7,047 arrivals were recorded for the island. Year-to-date, meetings, conventions and incentive-based travel notched 36,168 arrivals — a 6.2 percent decrease from the 38,574 arrivals in 2011.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau is contracted by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the state’s tourism agency, to provide marketing management services for the conventions, meetings and incentives-based travel market.