Publishers of the free guides and brochures visitors pick up at Hawaii’s airports may soon have to pay the state for the right to get their publications into visitors’ hands.
The state Department of Transportation Airports Division’s Visitor Information Program alerted publishers in March that nearly 50 years of free distribution would be coming to an end.
Officials "decided to develop a system to charge approved companies for the display of brochures or magazines in the airport racks," according to a March 20 memorandum from Glenn Okimoto, director of the Visitor Information Program.
The memo indicated the system was still being formulated and that fees would be waived in the meantime.
Publications have been required to meet certain standards and procedures to gain approval for free distribution in airport racks, but once the new fee system is finalized, "approved brochures and publications will be subject to future fees and charges," Okimoto’s memo said.
The fee system likely will be imposed in mid- to late 2013, said Caroline Sluyter, DOT public information officer.
Officials have been "looking at different ways throughout the airports where they can generate revenue," she said. "Obviously" there are a lot of costs and this is an effort to make some revenue so that "we’re not losing money," Sluyter said.
Publishers of visitor guides are upset over the looming and yet-undetermined fees, and worry that any contract put out to bid to administer the new fee system will be awarded to a mainland company, sending dollars out of the state.
Thus far, the publishers have only heard rumors about such a contract, and have been trying to figure out a way to step up and have their voices heard, suspecting talks toward a contract already had begun.
"I don’t know if we need to file a records request to see if they’re taking place — before they come out and make an announcement that it’s a done deal," said Ted Dixon, Hawaii Publishers Association president as well as publisher of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in Hilo.
No contractor has been retained, assured Sluyter, who said a contract to administer the program will go out to bid. The fee structure is still being determined by the DOT Airports Division. The new application policy also is still being developed.
That doesn’t address a foundational issue for some of the publishers, including James Quine, owner of The Gecko Group LLC, which publishes Maui Magazine, Driving Magazine of Maui, Maui’s Favorites and Maui Whale Watching Magazine.
"It’s my opinion that the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation does have the legal right and authority to charge rental location fees for the distribution of free visitor information," he said, adding, "I think it’s a terrible idea."
Instead of penalizing small businesses by taxing them more, eliminating deductions or charging additional fees, governments should help businesses grow to increase their tax revenue, he said.
"If any decent business owner worth his salt were in charge of those airport kiosks, they’d be doing everything they could to encourage businesses to produce (literature) that encourages the visitors to increase their spending by fully enjoying the island(s)," said Quine. "Charging money for distribution will only stunt the growth in visitor revenues, (so) I hope someone in our government is smart enough to realize that, in this case, charging any fee will result in damage to our economy."
All of the state’s airports fund their budgets through fees imposed on air carriers, concessionaires and other tenants, and receive no support from the state’s General Fund, though the Federal Aviation Administration regulates and provides grant funding to all U.S. airports, Sluyter said.
The FAA requires fair and equal treatment of businesses operating out of airports, and "those using the distribution racks currently don’t pay fees, but all other businesses operating out of the airport do," she said.
According to Dixon, the racks do not belong to the state, but rather were purchased by a hui of visitor industry publishers some years ago as the state sought to clean up the cluttered appearance of the many branded racks each publication placed at the airports.
Sluyter said she was unable to confirm whether Dixon’s assertion was correct.
