By Tom McClimon
September 24, 2007

Following the conclusion of the Ninth Japan-United States Mayors Fellowship Exchange Conference in Honolulu on August 21, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Chair of the Conference’s Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee hosted a special meeting on travel and tourism issues.

Joining Hannemann at this meeting were Conference President Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, Campbell Mayor Daniel Furtado, Alhambra Mayor Gary Yamauchi, Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman joined the discussions by telephone.

The business community was represented by Chuck Merin, President of the Travel Business Roundtable; Rex Johnson, President and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority; and John Monahan, President of the Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau.

Margaret Cumminsky, Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, also attended the meeting.

The mayors discussed ways to make travel and tourism issues a higher national priority. Hannemann stated, “ We need to put the travel and tourism on the front burner of the national agenda.” Overseas travel to the United States has fallen 17 percent since 2000, which has meant a loss of over $100 billion in lost visitor spending. It is important that the government identify new visitor feeder markets such as China and South Korea. “We need to lift some of the travel restrictions for these countries,” stated Hannemann.

“We feel that we can achieve security and hospitality-they aren’t mutually exclusive,” said Merin.

The mayors and business leaders discussed ways to get travel and tourism issues in front of Congress, the presidential candidates and the American people. “There should be a cabinet post that relates to tourism,” stated Palmer. “It’s troubling that we are losing a share of a market that was once a strong source for our economy,” stated Palmer. “We just can’t sit by and let a share of our economy leave the U.S.”

Goodman renewed his challenge that he issued at the 75th Annual Conference in Los Angeles that people need to start thinking as they did prior to 9/11 in regards to their travel. He recognized the challenges in changing peoples’ perceptions, but felt that too many security procedures were hampering peoples’ abilities to travel.

The mayors decided to talk further with the Travel Business Roundtable about the possibility of sponsoring a forum with presidential candidates on travel and tourism issues, to examine ways to bring the travel and tourism issue into the Conference upcoming 2008 meetings, and to possibly hold a national summit on travel and tourism sometime in 2008.