FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          April 7, 2006

Release M-42-06

MAYOR TO ADDRESS GLOBAL TOURISM SUMMIT

            Mayor Mufi Hannemann will be in Washington, D.C., next week to address a gathering of the planet’s top travel industry and government leaders at the 6^th annual Global Travel and Tourism Summit.

            Hannemann is one of a handful of government officials invited to address the summit, which is organized by the World Travel and Tourism Council and co-hosted by the Travel Business Roundtable and the Travel Industry Association of America. The summit brings together CEOs and chairpersons of the world’s top travel and tourism companies, foreign tourism and health ministers, senior U.S. officials and journalists from around the world.

            Hannemann will be speaking on “A Leader’s Perspective” as part of a session on “Destination Stories: Sharing Knowledge and Looking Ahead.” The mayor said, “I want to use this as an opportunity to promote Hawaii tourism and to make it clear to the world that we have weathered our recent problems,” said Hannemann. “This is the ideal audience for us to deliver the message that the beaches are open again and the Kona low system that generated all that rain has moved on.”

            The mayor will be in Washington, D.C., from Monday to Wednesday (April 10 to 12). The U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is a member of the Travel Business Roundtable, is underwriting the costs of his trip.

            While in Washington, Hannemann will also meet with federal transportation officials to apprise them of Honolulu’s progress in developing a mass transit system for Oahu.

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Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767