John De-Fries travel tips

Hawaii Visitors and Conventions Bureau CEO and President John Monahan is stepping down effective December 31, the bureau announced Thursday. Monahan has been at the helm for 20 years.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green is expected to sign a series of bills that will give the Hawaii Tourism Authority a new mandate and budget — its first one in two years — by July 11.

The Hawaiian government this week rescinded the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s U.S. tourism contract with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a community non-profit, providing a potential setback for the authority’s sustainable tourism efforts. The reason for the government’s rescission was that the contract needed to be separated into two, one for marketing and the other for visitor management and community relations.

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. 

John De Fries will step down as president and CEO of Hawaii Tourism Authority effective September 15. ​De Fries did not accept an invitation from the board to extend his three-year employment contract.

If you have a trip planned to Hawaii in the near future, the Hawaiian government is urging you to postpone. The state’s hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed amidst a huge spike in COVID-19 cases, attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant.