Hawai’i Tourism Authority Issues RFP For Community Enrichment Program

Purpose:

The HTA is requesting proposals from qualified applicants for Community Enrichment Programs (CEP). Community Enrichment Program (CEP) fosters community-based tourism projects to improve and enrich Hawai‘i’s product offerings. These community-based projects should provide unique, authentic and highly-valued visitor experiences and represents activities that are developed by our community, for our community, and are things the community is willing to and wants to share with our visitors. CEP encourages innovative tourism products.

Background:

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) is a government agency established by the State of Hawai‘i in 1998, pursuant to Chapter 201B of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, to promote and market the State as a visitor destination. HTA is the lead agency and advocate for Hawai‘i’s tourism industry. Its mission is to strategically manage Hawai‘i tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with economic goals, cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires and visitor industry needs.

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Community Enrichment Program (“CEP”) Request for Proposals (“RFP”) seeks projects or events consistent with Chapter 201B-3(a)(20) of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (“HRS”) which mandates HTA to: “Coordinate the development of new products with the counties and other persons in the public sector and private sector, including the development of sports, culture, health and wellness, education, technology, agriculture, and nature tourism.” In addition, the HTA Five-Year Strategic Plan 2016 lays out HTA’s plan to “expand community-based programs to enrich visitor-resident interactions and economic benefits.”

The four goals of the HTA five-year strategic plan are:

1. Improve the integrity of the destination
2. Ensure stable economic benefits
3. Elevate Hawai‘i’s value perception
4. Strengthen HTA’s reputation

Scope of Work:

• Develop new tourism products in the seven (7) targeted niche areas of agriculture, culture, education, health and wellness, nature, sports, technology and voluntourism (see Section 2.5 for definitions).
• Support community-based tourism initiatives.
• Support authentic experiences.
• Provide economic benefit to communities.
• Ensure the availability of events, activities and experiences throughout the year and distributed throughout the State. Special attention given to the “shoulder” periods of April and May, and September through the first half of December to attract additional visitors to the Hawaiian Islands
• Support marketing and promotional efforts with The Hawaiian Islands and keep in line with each islands’ brand identity.
• Contribute to HTA’s goal of increasing visitor arrivals, expenditures and length of stay.
• Create events, activities, and experiences which fulfill visitors’ expectations of a quality destination:
• Unique (to Hawai‘i) activities/experiences.
• Friendly interaction with residents.
• Variety of activities/experiences.
• Variety of cuisine and dining options.
• Good value for the money.
• Ensure a sufficient number of quality, innovative visitor experiences to satisfy the high number of returning visitors and visitors with sophisticated needs.

Due Date:

August 3rd

Address:

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority

Hawai‘i Convention Center, Level One

1801 Kālakaua Avenue

Honolulu, HI 96815

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