LAS VEGAS >> The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement got a seat at the tourism table when it secured a multiyear, $27 million contract for stewardship services from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Now, it looks like CNHA wants to build its own table.
It wouldn’t be the first time the organization has expanded its focus. It grew from 12 to over 100 employees the last several years while standing up new pandemic relief programs. CNHA now manages $100 million in annual program revenue, four facilities and employees across six divisions.
CNHA President and CEO Kuhio Lewis and Tyler Iokepa Gomes, former Department of Hawaiian Home Lands deputy chief and newly minted chief administrator for Kilohana, CNHA’s tourism arm, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser at the organization’s first-ever Western Regional Native Hawaiian Convention last week in Las Vegas that fulfilling the requirements of the HTA contract is their most immediate focus. However, they said their plans for tourism extend far beyond that single contract and funding source.
They both see tourism dovetailing into CNHA’s mission to enhance the cultural, economic, political and community development of Native Hawaiians and, really, all of Hawaii, since Native Hawaiians benefit the most when the community they live in is healthy and vibrant.
Lewis said securing the stewardship services award was an amazing opportunity, although not as broad a scope as what CNHA had originally envisioned when it first went after the U.S. tourism contract. The organization actually secured that award in a second- round procurement after protesting the contract award to the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which was then rescinded.
However, HVCB protested CNHA’s award, and that was rescinded.
In the third procurement round, the former competitors were both given contracts. HVCB was awarded the U.S. branding and destination management contract and CNHA was selected for the stewardship services contract. Now both will work together, with HVCB responsible for U.S. visitors pre-arrival and CNHA handling post-arrival visitor education and management.
Lewis said he felt called to apply for the HTA tourism contract, but shared that CNHA’s commitment to tourism extends far beyond its HTA award.
“There are plenty of opportunities to work with HTA to expand and grow (the scope of work). But HTA is just one means; there are other opportunities to fund this work and other resources that we are receiving to support other programming that could plug into tourism,” he said.
Lewis added that CNHA has grants and business loan programs that could create new opportunities for local businesses to create more authentic operations that support tourism, even possibly expanding into places such as Waikiki, Kaanapali on Maui and other resort destinations.
“Living in the ancient world in Hawaii is over. We have to up our game. Look at what all the other destinations are doing to tell their story. We have to use tech to enhance the experience — otherwise it’s boring …,” he said.
“I’m not afraid of doing innovative things. I want to light up Diamond Head in different colors. That’s our signature. That’s the final look when people are leaving Hawaii.”
CNHA ALREADY has tourism workforce development programs and is in talks to secure a management contract for Native Hawaiians to run a hotel in Waikiki or Kaanapali, according to Lewis.
“That’s probably a few years out. We have to get our footing. We have a lot of people to prove wrong,” he said.
The organization also hopes to take over the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell and turn it into a Hawaiian attraction, and wants to bring back the Kodak Hula Show but call it the Kilohana Show. Lewis said they are exploring development of farm and fishpond tours as well.
He added that CNHA’s decision to hold an annual convention on the mainland also creates an opportunity to launch a grassroots tourism ambassador program with lahui (Native Hawaiians) on the mainland.
Those ideas go above and beyond the requirements of its stewardship services for HTA. That contract, which is still being negotiated, went into effect last week and runs for an initial two-and-a-half-year term with an option for two one-year extensions.
Kilohana’s proposal says it will be staffed and fully operational with nine full-time equivalent positions using interim staff employed by CNHA. Gomes said Kainalu Severson has been hired as deputy administrator, with more new personnel coming.
According to Gomes, stewardship is not a new concept for CNHA, which is a “community organization” at its core.
“We know that resident sentiment isn’t as high as it could be, and in order to get there it’s not just going to take the Hawaiian lens,” he said. “We have other cultures in Hawaii who also benefit and suffer from the positive and negative aspects of tourism. That lens needs to be reflective and inclusive.”
A TOURISM policy roundtable at the conference showed the pressure that HTA, HVCB, CNHA and other Hawaii tourism interests and managers are facing if community members and the lawmakers who represent them do not begin to view tourism more positively.
Panelists state Sen. Lynn DeCoite (D, East and Upcountry Maui-Molokai- Lanai) and Rep. Daniel Holt (D, Sand Island-Iwilei- Chinatown) discussed the possibility of what some might see as extreme interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism. Holt said a visitor impact fee did not pass during the last session but said another alternative might be to raise the transient accommodations tax again.
“If you can afford to go stay at a hotel, then you are way better off than the majority of people in our state. We need to try to help out those people who can’t even find dinner,” he said. “We had a big cut in our projected budget revenues so we will be looking to try to make that up.”
DeCoite discussed her recent travels to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, where visitors are not allowed to buy land, which she said retains the native art and culture. She talked about exploring a similar tactic in Hawaii, adding, “If can, it would have to be crafted in a way to see how it could be done. When you open the flood gates, it’s hard to close the gate.”
Gomes said the HTA stewardship contract addresses visitor impacts by requiring a visitor education and post-arrival marketing program.
“That’s really where we are going to tackle encouraging the right kinds of behaviors attracting the right kinds of visitors — the mindful traveler, respectful traveler, the culturally and environmentally engaged traveler through advertising campaigns and marketing resources,” he said.
LEWIS SAID Kilohana is talking to the state Department of Transportation about taking over some of the responsibilities of the greeters at the airport.
He talked about giving all deplaning passengers a single flower as a greeting, providing a point of contact to share some of the stories that make Hawaii special and providing economic development for flower growers. CNHA also is working to integrate hotels and concierges to influence bookings once visitors get to the islands.
Gomes said the HTA contract also requires technical assistance and capacity building, in particular to help local businesses and community organizations scale up into the industry.
“Walking down Kalakaua Avenue, there is not a lot of local presence in terms of business,” he said.
Another part of the contract is offering technical assistance by leveraging resources across the community to create new experiences, according to Gomes.
“For too long, it’s really been about how the visitors explore. That’s fine to a point in terms of resident sentiment. But if we create more places for them to see, high-value things for them to engage in, we also start to mitigate the impact of visitors going to the places that we don’t want them to go.”
For example, Gomes said Hawaii could do a better job of increasing agricultural tourism.
He said the HTA contract requires CNHA to build a quality-assurance program to bolster “consumer confidence in our products, our experiences, our hotels.”
In addition, CNHA must create curriculum for a tour guide certification program.
Also on its to-do list: managing HTA’s traditional community support programs and creating two new community funding programs.
A new program establishes a Hawaiian culture resort initiative to get more cultural practitioners in resorts. Another creates a “smart” tourism program to attract innovative technical hardware and software solutions to address overtourism hot spots.
