Hawaii awards $70M in destination marketing contracts
For the third time since 2021, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has awarded North America tourism marketing contracts, this time to 3 vendors:
- $38.35M to Hawaii VCB (HVCB) for attracting US visitors - something the VCB has been doing for a very long time
- $27.14M to Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CHNA) for support of destination stewardship, including in-destination visitor education and community programs
- $2.4M to VoX International for destination marketing in Canada
These latest contract awards nearly didn't happen because the Hawaii Legislature failed to fund HTA in 2023, but HTA was able to get the needed cash from a $200M discretionary fund.
The previous 2 contract awards were rescinded as a result of protests by unsuccessful bidders:
- CNHA protested a contract awarded to HVCB in 2021, and that contract was rescinded.
- A contract awarded to CNHA in the summer of 2022 was rescinded following protests by HVCB.
The new contracts all have 2.5-year terms, with possibility of extension for a further 2 years, and barring any protests, are expected to be active by 1 July.
