Hawaii Tourism Authority readies for defunding
The Hawaii Tourism Authority, the state agency responsible for leading tourism recovery across the isles, is in dire financial straits and has already started running “doomsday scenarios” in the event that it faces defunding.
Gov. David Ige issued an executive order earlier in the pandemic ceasing transient accommodations tax disbursements to HTA, which was established by the state Legislature in 1998 to serve as “the state’s lead agency supporting tourism.”
HTA in 2019 received $79 million in TAT funds and another $16.5 million for the Hawai‘i Convention Center. In fiscal year 2020 HTA received only the first four months of its TAT distribution and cut its fiscal budget in September to $48 million from $86 million and then down to $41 million in November.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/01/25/hawaii-news/hawaii-tourism-authority-readies-for-defunding/
