Tourism funding cut as more travel to Hawaii

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Travel to Hawaii

The Hawaii House and Senate voted yesterday to override Governor David Ige’s veto of House Bill 862 in large part relating to tourism. Specifically as far as the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) budget goes, this bill will cut that budget from US$79 million to US$60 million and reducing the Authority’s duties and responsibilities.

  1. HTA will now have to request funds from the legislature each year like every other state agency.
  2. The bill does allocate $60 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for the current fiscal year.
  3. Also included in the bill are changes to the transient accommodation tax which will cost tourists more to stay in hotels.

House Bill 862 also repeals transient accommodation tax allocation to the counties and authorizes them to establish a county transient accommodations tax at a rate not to exceed 3 percent on top of the state’s hotel tax of 10.25 percent.

It also repeals the TAT-funded tourism special fund and repeals certain compensation package limits for the president and chief executive officer of HTA effective January 1, 2022. This is HTA’s primary source of revenue.

In addition it repeals HTA’s exemption from the public procurement code and also decreases transient accommodations tax allocation to the convention center enterprise special fund.

State Rep. Sylvia Luke (D), representing Punchbowl, Pauoa, and Nuuanu, stated that overriding the veto is in essence charging tourists so they can help pay for the resources that they use. She said the Transient Accommodations Tax – or hotel tax – increase of 3 percent will accomplish this. In addition, rental car tax will be raised in the name of sustainable tourism management.

State Rep. Gene Ward (R), representing Hawaii Kai and Kalama Valley, voted against overriding the bill saying the bill is essentially sending HTA the message that they don’t like the way they are managing their part in Hawaii’s tourism.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz, eTN editor

Linda Hohnholz has been writing and editing articles since the start of her working career. She has applied this innate passion to such places as Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade University, the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center, and now TravelNewsGroup.

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