KHON2 –
The Hawaii Agricultural Foundation invites you to Eat Think Drink for an important conversation about Reimagining Tourism in 2021.
Hawaii Agricultural Foundation’s virtual event, EAT THINK DRINK: Reimagining Tourism 2021 – Sustaining Our Future will bring stakeholders together for this community conversation on Tuesday, January 12 at 6pm.
“EAT THINK DRINK is an event series hosted by the Hawaii Ag Foundation and they’ve invited us to partner with them for this upcoming event, Reimagining Tourism 2021 – Sustaining Our Future,” explains Mufi Hannemann, President and CEO of Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association.
“EAT THINK DRINK was started by Hawaii Ag Foundation back in 2016 as a way to bring the community together to discuss issues around food sustainability and security. However, since COVID hit, they’ve pivoted the event and partnered with other industries and organizations like us (HLTA), to engage the community in broader discussions as we all know now that so many of our local industries are inter-related and we need to work together to restore the balance and health of our economy.”
They’re excited to explore opportunities to rebuild and innovate Hawaii’s number one industry – tourism. Hannemann adds, “There’s no denying that our economy has suffered because of the drop in visitor numbers, and we need to move forward and get on this road to recovery because we know it’s going to be a long one, but we have to work together.”
He goes on to say, “We know that resident support for the visitor industry at an all-time low and we want to address that and look at how we can reshape the industry and work together with other industries and sectors to create a mutually beneficial relationship and a win-win for our local communities.”
Hannemann thinks there are opportunities for us to innovate our existing industries such as agriculture to create agri-tourism experiences that will benefit our local farmers and agricultural industry, and to discuss new programs to attract remote workers to Hawaii, like the Movers and Shakas program.
HAF invited a great group of speakers who represent different industry sectors to speak on these opportunities. The event will start with a short presentation by economist Paul Brewbaker, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Senator Glenn Wakai. Panelists include:
* Daniel Chun, Director of Sales, Community & Public Relations – Hawai’i
Alaska Airlines
* Lynette Eastman, General Manager of The Surfjack Hotel and Swim Club
* John Morgan, President of Kualoa Ranch, Inc.
* and, Paul Yonamine, Executive Chairman of Central Pacific Bank and Chairman & CEO of Central Pacific Financial Corporation
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at http://HawaiiAgFoundation.org.
