View persists that Hawaii is too pretty for business

It was baseball great Yogi Berra who said, "Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded." He was talking about a restaurant, although he could have been talking about one of Hawaii’s problems.

We are just too nice a place. Everyone wants to come here. And that scares off business.

Visitor arrivals are up 5.5 percent to nearly 4.9 million for the first seven months of 2013, according to figures from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Also, spending jumped 5.7 percent to $8.7 billion.

We are on everyone’s bucket lists across the globe; everyone wants to say they visited Hawaii at least once.

But if you are coming here to cut a deal, learn about a business opportunity, or connect with fellow politicians and government leaders, it is your career that just kicked the bucket.

The decades-old worry that trips to Hawaii are seen as play, not work, continues to haunt.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie experienced that earlier last month while pitching Hawaii at the National Governors Association meeting in Milwaukee.

According to a report by Stateline, the Pew Charitable Trusts’ government report, it was Abercrombie’s plan to get the HGA to come here in 2015.

"Put a lei around the governors’ necks, hand them a mai tai, guide them through a hula dance, lead them in a round of ‘Aloha ‘Oe’ and brace for the fallout," cautioned Pew, after mentioning that there was no public pushback about governors riding Harleys in Wisconsin, downing mountains of cheese and slurping Milwaukee beer.

Earlier this year, Abercrombie repeatedly defended Hawaii as a place for business in addresses to the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The result of the conference was that Cedric Cook, chairman of the public pension fund in bankrupt Detroit, reported losing his city job last month, in part because he and three other Detroit pension trustees spent $22,000 attending that six-day conference, according to the Stateline article.

Somehow, traveling to Las Vegas amid the slot machines, nearly naked dancers, endless shows and buffet lines produces serious thought and purposeful direction, while blank-walled, windowless conference rooms in Hawaii hotels lead only to unproductive waste and frittering.

"We should not be punished for living in a beautiful place," says state Rep. Tom Brower, the Waikiki Democrat who chairs the House Tourism Committee.

Hawaii is a place of "incredible strategic importance," notes Brower. It may not get the same attention as a corporate business conclave, but the national military importance placed on Hawaii is part of the reason to not disrespect Hawaii, he says.

"It is insulting for other governments to say we are not a business destination," Brower says.

The Legislature already has programs to give tax credits or other inducements to businesses wanting to make movies or other revenue-producing operations in the Islands. The Hawaii Convention Center also has a department dedicated to getting more conventions and businesses to sample Hawaii’s more serious side. Perhaps more serious inducements are needed.

Meanwhile, Abercrombie, if he wins re-election next year, will find his 2015 summer governors’ conference in West Virginia, not Honolulu.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.