Hawaii contributor Christine Hitt spoke to Aaron Sala about his new role as CEO of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB). Sala, who joined the HVCB in September, was formerly the CEO of Gravitas Pasifika, a boutique firm he founded that is dedicated to advancing Hawaiian talent through creative production. He is also a former chairperson for the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) and most recently served as director for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.
Q: What do you plan on focusing on in your first year?
A: What we are looking at doing over the next several months is really going into an updated strategic plan that will take all of our team contributing and committing to what the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau wants to be in the near future and beyond. HVCB is 121 years old this year, and so we're really standing atop an iceberg of knowledge that sets us up, not only to be experts in tourism in Hawaii but really experts in tourism on the globe. We want to step into that. I want to start to look at what that information teaches us.
In terms of our contract with HTA, the U.S. leisure contract, we're really looking at how we market, who we're marketing to and considering and reconsidering the kinds of stories that we're telling in an effort to bring visitors from the U.S. market to Hawaii.
Q: Your past work has immersed you in Hawaiian culture. How will your deep understanding of Hawaii's heritage influence the work you are doing at the HVCB?
A: What we'll start to do is really look at how a Hawaiian oceanic worldview guides and informs the work that we do as an organization. What I mean by that is I'm less interested in assuring that our team knows how to make lei as much as I am that they understand why we make lei in particular ways. Why the weave? Why do we use these particular things? What does that say about where we come from?
Q: Is education going to be part of that?
A: Absolutely. Education, both for our internal team and then education in terms of how we design programming for wholesalers, etc., for potential leisure travelers to Hawaii.
Q: Have you seen a shift in how Hawaii is being marketed to visitors? Do you see more changes coming?
A: This sort of predates me; the evolution has already started to take hold. But we've taken a more active approach in engaging people and the stories of people -- both locals, Native Hawaiians, and to a certain extent visitors who have been coming to Hawaii for generations. I want to lean into that. I think the stories of people are really key to understanding who we are as a Native Hawaiian community, who we are as a local Hawaii community, and how we interact with a global community.
As people engage with our environment, then we hope that in subtle ways, nuanced ways, we're creating opportunities for potential and realized visitors to learn how to engage with our local community and our environment as a result of that marketing approach.
Q: When you mention engaging with the local community, is that similar to the Malama Hawaii programs?
A: Yes, Malama Hawaii is a unique kind of opportunity. Malama Hawaii is something we absolutely understand locally. It needs to be translated to a market that wouldn't necessarily understand it. And so I think as we're looking for the target Hawaii traveler, we're also looking at how that target Hawaii traveler is aligned in terms of the values that we have in Hawaii.
Q: Is more emphasis going toward getting travelers to return since the Maui fires?
A: We have just wrapped an L.A. saturation [campaign], the goal of which was to bring visitors back to Hawaii in general but Maui in particular. And so part of that was a pop-up marketplace in partnership with Mana Up [a Hawaii business accelerator program], with funds provided by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and amplified by tourism industry partners. And we focused on Maui products in an effort to really share what is possible to do on Maui in particular.
Obviously, we want visitors, and the local community, as well, to be really respectful of what happened in Lahaina but also to know that, for all intents and purposes, Maui is open to visitors.
Q: Is it challenging to get that word out to people in the continental U.S. since the fires?
A: No, I think the challenge lies in the clarity on what the messaging is and how we want that message to be received, both in the market and in the community. And so working in step with the Hawaii Tourism Authority on assuring that we are positioning our messaging in a way that speaks to how Maui wants to be portrayed and then engaging with Maui people themselves to tell their own stories is part and parcel of the success of the program.
Q: There's been some concern about tourism's impact on places and the environment. Are there things that you have in mind that can better balance tourism's benefits and negatives?
A: Resident sentiment is key to the success of the industry, and part and parcel of that is really bringing clarity to what the industry is for residents. Many of them work in the industry. Many of them contribute in some way to the success of the industry. They need then to also see the success that the industry brings to Hawaii as a whole.