MEDIA RELEASE

On Thursday, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) is teaming up with the Hawaii Convention Center at a Washington, D.C. tradeshow to sell the Hawaiian Islands for association meetings.

Called Destination Showcase, the one-day tradeshow is taking place February 24 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The expected 2,000 attendees will be especially valuable to the Hawaii sales team, being comprised of association meeting planners and executives responsible for site selection of upcoming meetings and conventions.

“Destination Showcase is a strong opportunity to promote Hawaii as a desirable location for meetings and incentive travel,” said Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). “In addition, our ability to reach the type of attendees at Destination Showcase will complement Hawaii’s efforts to capitalize on the interest in our state as we prepare to host the 2011 APEC Leaders’ meeting in November.”

Adding to the significance of Destination Showcase to the Hawaii sales team is that Washington, D.C. has approximately 3,500 national and international associations based in the region, the highest concentration in the world.

“We’ve been seeing encouraging results recently in new leads from associations that are consistent with the economy growing stronger and the pent-up demand of groups wanting to resume travel abroad for business meetings,” said Michael Murray, CMP, CMM, CASE, HVCB vice president of sales and marketing for corporate meetings and incentives. “Hawaii is well-positioned to take advantage of new opportunities and Destination Showcase is an ideal venue to network and capitalize on our industry relationships.”

Organizing the Hawaii sales exhibit at Destination Showcase is Meredith Parkins, HVCB’s Washington, D.C.-based regional director of accounts.

HVCB is contracted by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), the state of Hawaii’s tourism agency, to provide marketing management services for the conventions, meetings and incentives market segment. HTA was established in 1998 to ensure a successful visitor industry well into the future.

Its mission is to strategically manage Hawaii tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with the state of Hawaii’s economic goals, cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires, and visitor industry needs.