STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2284

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3364

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 3364 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DESTINATION MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Amend the powers and duties of the Hawaii Tourism Authority;

(2) Require the Hawaii Tourism Authority to develop Destination Management Action Plans for each county and to perform the actions specified in each Destination Management Action Plan;

(3) Rename the Hawaii Tourism Authority's Tourism Marketing Plan as the Strategic Tourism Management Plan and amend the required components of the plan; and

(4) Require the Strategic Tourism Management Plan to include statewide destination management and regenerative tourism efforts and programs.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, LahainaTown Action Committee, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Maui Chamber of Commerce, Hawaiʻi Lodging & Tourism Authority, and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition of this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State's approach to tourism needs greater management and coordination with private and public stakeholders. Your Committee further finds that the three-year, community-led Destination Management Action Plans that would be established in statute by this measure have been a key initiative through which communities across the State have articulated their needs, desires, and visions for tourism in their communities, on their terms. This measure amends the powers and duties of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, aligning statutory mandates for the Hawaii Tourism Authority with the work they have been doing to advance destination management and regenerative tourism.

Your Committee notes that the Hawaii Tourism Authority will be providing to the Committee a comparison of how much it costs to fund contractors for destination management under the Hawaii Tourism Authority's current contract with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau versus how much it will cost to fully fund these positions for destination management within the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3364, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3364, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism,

________________________________

LYNN DECOITE, Chair