Once again, the fate of funding for the Hawaii Tourism Authority — the agency’s very existence, in fact — is in jeopardy at the state Legislature. And even more dire than last year, today’s eleventh-hour push-and-pull by state lawmakers is a poor way to craft policy that guides Hawaii’s largest economic engine.

With a sector so vital to Hawaii as tourism, it would be a mistake to dismantle HTA at this juncture, given the strides that it’s been making.

But here we are: House Bill 1375 and Senate Bill 1522 both seek to dissolve HTA then reconstitute it as a new Office of Tourism/Destination Management within the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), refocused on stewardship rather than tourism promotion.

It seems to be a scale-back that diminishes the breadth of work necessary to keep Hawaii’s tourism industry stable and robust. Destination management is vital, yes, but so are the tourism marketing and trends research work required to stay globally competitive.

In Hawaii residents’ love-hate relationship with tourism, there must be due recognition that this industry floats many economic boats. That calls for a visible lead agency that’s responsible to keep a 360-degree watch on the unpredictable visitor industry, and to be directly answerable to the public for actions undertaken. HTA should remain that semi-autonomous state agency, not be subsumed into an opaque state department.

Legislators should delve into HTA’s website and its recent progress to see that work is already underway toward the goals outlined in HB 1375 and SB 1522. For starters, here’s its mission statement: “To strategically manage Hawai‘i tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with economic goals, cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires and visitor industry needs.”

And in crafting its 6-year strategic plan in 2020, HTA significantly shifted more emphasis to addressing tourism’s impacts, reorganizing around four basic “pillars”: natural resources (respect for natural and cultural resources); Hawaiian culture (supporting Native Hawaiian culture and community through genuine experiences; community (ensure tourism and communities enrich each other); and brand marketing (strengthening tourism’s contributions).

Under CEO John De Fries, HTA seems to recognize that its mission is no longer just about marketing — to merely drive tourist numbers to record heights — but that it’s all of the above, with destination management having equal weight.

That’s aligned with today’s tolerance level, directive and vision for Hawaii tourism. To paraphrase an old automobile slogan: This is not your father’s HTA. Where HTA once was, indeed, an agency bloated with inefficiencies, lax spending and public accountability problems — as revealed in critical state audits in 2013 and 2018 — it now is on a course correction. There is no good reason at this time, with HTA on the right path with its 6-year plan, to upend things and reinvent this wheel.

In fact, it was in partnership with HTA that Hawaii’s counties and their visitors bureaus developed Destination Management Action Plans (DMAPs) for Kauai, Maui Nui (Maui, Molokai and Lanai), Oahu and Hawaii island. In rebuilding tourism post-COVID, these DMAPs call for attracting and educating responsible visitors; advocating for solutions to overcrowded attractions, overtaxed infrastructure and other tourism-related problems; and working with other agencies to improve natural and cultural assets valued by both Hawaii residents and visitors.

In the next two weeks of conference committees on HB 1375 or SB 1522 (whichever becomes the vehicle for HTA’s fate), some refining of HTA’s focus or salary caps is valid — but not its dissolution. In addition to retaining the agency and a reasonable funding level, another critical element to preserve is a $64 million allocation to finally fix the Hawai‘i Convention Center’s leaking rooftop terrace, a shameful situation that has gone unresolved for far too long.

As seen in the preamble of HB 1375, it’s clear that some legislators want to blame HTA for recent mismanagement of a $34 million contract for its U.S. tourism marketing. But throwing HTA under the elimination bus is unfair: It was indeed a messy process, but one that got even messier when the former DBEDT director interjected to big-foot the process.

Destination management and visitor marketing are equal sides of the sustainable-tourism coin. It’s important to push back on disrespectful behavior against Hawaii’s aina, endangered species, flora and fauna; and upkeep of Hawaii’s treasured natural sites is crucial. But it’s also money from tourism and its ecosystem of related services, and from general excise and visitor taxes, that keep many residents employed and help sustain our lifestyles in the middle of the Pacific.

HTA is on a promising path to recalibrate tourism for Hawaii. Too much is at stake for legislators to be short-sighted, or worse, to deliberately up-end HTA’s trajectory for the sake of wresting political control.