The Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association is screening candidates to replace President and CEO Mufi Hannemann should he leave the job as his campaign for Congress heats up.

Hannemann, who announced his candidacy for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District seat in August, said he is unsure about when he might vacate the position at the private trade association.

"There’s no timetable," Hannemann said Monday in a telephone interview. "I’m not required to step down at all because it is not a public-sector job."

The association’s search committee began taking applications for a possible successor last month and will continue to accept them through April 15, he said.

"We thought it was prudent to start the search now," Hannemann said.

The association — which has a diverse membership of nearly 600 hotels, condominiums, time shares, travel and transportation firms, suppliers and related tourism businesses and individuals — has advertised for someone with executive experience in the industry who can work with elected and government officials and forge relationships within the Legislature.

"Ever since we put the advertisement out there, people have been calling," Hannemann said, but declined to discuss the number or quality of applicants.

Should the search committee find a replacement, Hannemann said all parties would find a "mutually agreeable time" for him to step down.

Hannemann resigned from his post as city mayor in July 2010 to run for governor. After losing the election, Hannemann, a longtime champion of the state’s visitor industry, began work at the association, an organization that had endorsed him for governor and had supported his re-election campaign for mayor.

His return to politics was always a possibility.

"If the right opportunity presents itself … I’ll go back into the public arena," he said during an interview with the Star-Advertiser in December 2010. "But for now it’s all visitor industry. … I’ll work to leave it better than I found it."

Hannemann led the organization’s efforts to re-brand last fall itself adding "tourism" to its name to more accurately reflect its membership.