Hawaii Tourism's Future Will Have Much Less Marketing

On Thursday, the Hawaii Tourism Authority was officially excluded from the state budget and now has to request funds from the state’s budgeting and finance department. The governor and legislature will vet the funding requests, putting the agency under their scrutiny. 

“We understand that our spending will be more scrutinized, and we recognize that we have a lot of work ahead,” said John De Fries, president and CEO of HTA. The funds for the agency will come from the $200 million lawmakers set aside to address a variety of def