Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) president Mike McCartney and other HTA representatives recently traveled to Yokohama, Japan, to help promote the fact that Hawaii is hosting many high-profile meetings during the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
More than 25 individuals, including APEC Hawaii host committee chair Peter Ho and vice-chair Tim Johns, made up the Hawaii delegation. U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, keynote speaker at two Hawaii-sponsored events, spoke on the importance of APEC and encouraged the invited guests to attend the meetings in November 2011. The Hawaii team presented more than 500 leis at two events.
HTA sees the APEC summit as a unique and unprecedented opportunity for Hawaii to showcase its people, diverse cultural heritage, talent, hospitality, facilities and economic sectors. Tourism officials anticipate that by hosting APEC, Hawaii can show the world what past generations have successfully built in Hawaii and what the future may hold for Hawaii as a unique bridge between the U.S. and Asia.
It's expected that APEC will also position the islands as a strategically-located global meeting place as it showcases Hawaii's meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions market infrastructure.
