Tovin Lapan
George D. Szigeti has been at the helm of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) for more than three years — a period of record annual visitation and visitor spending — but will not see his full five-year term through to the end.
Szigeti's contract ran through 2020, but at the end of June the HTA Board of Directors voted unanimously to end his term effective Oct. 31. Szigeti says he understands the board's desire to bring in fresh leadership and is proud of his team's many accomplishments since he took over in 2015.
"It's been an honor and a privilege to serve as director of HTA these three and a half years, and I respect the decision of the board given the current political environment," Szigeti said. "We mutually agreed upon termination without cause."
Board chairman Rick Fried said the board appreciated Szigeti's work with the agency but felt it was time for a "new direction." Two elements working against Szigeti, from the board's perspective, were his rocky relationship with the state legislature, which controls HTA's budget, and a perception among some critics that he lacked deep tourism industry knowledge.
George Szigeti
Before joining the HTA, Szigeti served as CEO of the Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association and prior to that served as CEO at a beer, wine and spirits distributor called Better Brands Ltd. He has also been president of the Hawaii Food Industry Association and was on the board of the Hawaii Restaurant Association.
"I feel like I have a good relationship with many senators and representatives, and I have tremendous respect for the job they do," Szigeti said. "It was an honor working side by side with them. Certainly, there were some political elements that are tough to overcome, but given time I think we could have overcome all of the challenges. I do respect the decision of the board, however, which felt it was time to move in a new direction."
Tourism is a vital industry in the Aloha State, a major driver of employment and the economy in general, and the HTA, while semi-autonomous from the state government, attracts significant attention and scrutiny. A state audit of HTA released in February criticized the agency for lax oversight and failure to properly manage grants, administrative costs, expense reimbursements and other programs. After the audit, legislators in the Hawaii state senate proposed drastic cuts to the HTA budget, more than $20 million in reductions overall, but in the end settled on a much smaller trim of $3 million to the agency's general fund.
Tourism has steadily increased every year Szigeti has been in charge of the HTA, with the islands approaching annual visitation of 10 million. Those increases have led to more tension with residents as traffic jams, parking problems, and overuse of sensitive areas have increasingly become issues in local politics. Many observers of the Hawaii tourism industry have said that it is time for the HTA, founded in 1998, to better balance its efforts to market the islands with good management practices that ensure future sustainable use.
"We've had so much success over the last three years thanks to all of our partners. We've registered record spend and arrivals, but that brings a whole new set of challenges," Szigeti said. "We need to consider how we manage the destination versus just providing marketing. I agree it's time for a re-pivot and a discussion on how do we find that balance. We need to take into consideration what is compatible with residents' quality of life and our resources."
The current HTA strategic plan covers 2015-2020, Sziegti said, and it is time to start looking toward how the agency can best serve the state, tourists and residents in the future with a plan looking to 2025 or beyond.
Szigeti said he is very proud of what has been accomplished in Hawaii in the last few years, and credited all of the various elements of the state's tourism industry, trade partners, hotels, marketing agencies, business leaders, and government agencies for working together to maintain growth in the state's number one industry.
"When I was recruited by the search committee, they wanted to bring better business practices and principles to HTA," Szigeti said. "We instituted change quickly and fostered a new culture of collaboration. We changed the budget process, creating a line-item budget that gave the board more detail and ownership of how every dollar of taxpayer money was being spent. We increased collaborations with industry partners and stakeholders and built more global business relationships."
Under Szigeti's leadership HTA separated the marketing contracts for Canada and North America, previously under one direction, and increased emphasis on targeting Canada as a unique market. They also put more resources into reaching Asian markets including South East Asia and Hong Kong.
Szigeti also started to shift agency attention toward sustainable tourism, making it the theme of the HTA-sponsored Global Tourism Summit in 2017 and again this year. The 2018 summit, Oct. 1 to 3 in Honolulu, will be one of Szigeti's last projects before his final day, and the summit has increased in attendance from 800 three years ago to an estimated 2,500 attendees in 2018.
In his final few months he is also helping with staffing, bringing four new HTA board members up to speed, and implementing the 21 recommendations for improvements included in the state audit. Additionally, Szigeti is working to address the tourism impacts of the Kilauea eruptions on Hawaii Island and the record rainfall and damaging floods on Kauai's north shore in April, while working with other state agencies to maintain community safety in the affected areas.
"I always tell my team: Our mission is to serve so others may benefit," Szigeti said. "The Hawaii tourism industry impacts a lot of people, and is the economic engine and chief job creator for the state. It is extremely important that HTA remain strong stewards of the industry, and continue to keep it vibrant, strong and robust."
After October, Szigeti says he plans to relax a little bit after a rewarding but demanding three years on the job, spending more time with his family while staying open to new opportunities.