The Hawaii Convention Center and Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau are launching their first joint advertising campaign and a website aimed at drawing more conventions to the Islands.

The ads — which feature the tagline "Where Business and Aloha Meet" — are appearing in national meetings publications and characterize Hawaii meetings and conventions as "inspiring" and "rejuvenating."

The www.businessaloha.com website is designed to be a resource for meeting and convention planners and includes a meeting planning timeline and information on travel, accommodations and meeting venues statewide.

The site also covers topics such as overcoming the "boondoggle perception" that can be associated with meetings in Hawaii, which is widely known as a leisure destination. In one of the more high-profile incidents in recent years, many members of the National Association of Counties were criticized in their hometown media for holding the organization's 2005 annual meeting in Honolulu during tight budget times.

The Web site "provides one-stop shopping for meeting planners whether they need to book the Hawaii Convention Center or space in one of our beautiful resorts," said Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau president and CEO John Monahan.

"Our joint goal is to secure business for our industry partners by making it as easy as possible for meeting planners to book Hawaii," said Joe Davis, SMG Hawaii general manager of the Hawaii Convention Center.

The Hawaii Convention Center and HVCB are introducing the website nationally as part of a three-month promotion for groups that book meetings by March 31. The convention center is offering those clients a 50 percent savings, and the HVCB is offering discounts for accommodations and event services.

Source: The Honolulu Advertiser 1/13/07