A $500,000 transfer between two funds at the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority was the headline from a Senate committee hearing last week.
Lawmakers grilled Jimmy Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, on whether he had the authority to move the funds. It’s just one of the litany of public challenges the HTA has faced in recent months.
As it turns out, Tokioka provided incorrect details about the funds transfer. He spoke with HPR to correct the record. Tokioka also gave an update on sports tourism in Hawaiʻi and the ongoing search for a new HTA president.
Interview highlights
On the HTA funding buckets
JIMMY TOKIOKA: I erred in what I said. Caroline Anderson, who is the acting president and CEO, as soon as I said what I said, she corrected me. In a meeting that we had, the discussion was initially to take it from destination management to put it into sports opportunities and tourism, but there was additional money in sports opportunities, and so we took it from the right account. So I had erred in what I said, and I corrected it later on, with the chair and the members. To be totally transparent, none of the money as of this date has been spent, so even if it was transferred from the wrong account number, we haven't spent any of that money yet. It was moved from the same account for other funds that were not used, and we're going to lap, so we move those funds.
On why the transfer was made
TOKIOKA: As I've told all of our agencies from the time I started here, because I did come from the Legislature, I spent 16 years in the State House, and I've always said to our agencies that the Legislature is our bank. They are the ones who fund the programs that we do. They are the ones who oversee the programs that we do. So if we have any success in getting additional funding or funding for our programs, we need to make sure that the bank trusts us in the decisions that we make, so going forward, additional funding can be made to help support the agency. So in many of the hearings in the tourism committees, both in the House and the Senate, the chairs were very concerned about what we were doing and how we were spending some of the money in destination management. … But some of the other things the Legislature had concerns with destination management weren't those types of things. It was studies. It was things that the committee chairs felt like we don't need to do any studies. We know where the hot spots are. Let's just address the hot spots. So that sentiment came from the committees, the tourism committee in the House and the Senate, and we followed their direction. So that's where that change in some of the programs came from.
On opportunities for sports tourism
TOKIOKA: We think that the PGA Tour canceled The Sentry prematurely, because all accounts tell us that the golf course, last week, when the tournament was supposed to be played, is in the best condition it's ever been, but we missed that boat. Gov. Green and DBEDT and myself are working very hard to keep those tournaments here. Now, if we lose one, the probability of losing both is very, very high, because the cost of shipping equipment for one tournament is very, very costly. So that is a big concern. So we're trying to keep it. I have spoken to the people who run the Sony tournament in Hawaiʻi, and they have said that Sony has been open to negotiating the contract for the next year. The current contract expired this year; I believe it was a three-year contract. So Sony has had discussions. We're hoping to keep them. ... I think all accounts point to a golf season starting later after the Super Bowl than before the Super Bowl, maybe the week before, because there is no football during the week before the Super Bowl. But that's where we think, in all the discussions that we've seen and heard, that's when it would start. It's still a good opportunity for us, because even in February, it's freezing cold in many places on the continental United States. So when those people see a tournament at Kapalua, and you're shooting from the First Tee, and you're looking out at Kapalua Bay, and you see the whales jumping, and you see all of that beauty that the Hawaiian Islands have to offer. And you're in Minnesota, and it's freezing cold, or New York City or Chicago, and you see that you're like, 'We haven't been in Hawaiʻi for a while. Let's go to Hawaiʻi.' It's hard to capture what that value is, but I don't think anybody's going to disagree that it's it does happen. So we're competing with how much it costs to get here and how much it costs to stay here, especially in the Japanese market.
On the search for the new HTA president
TOKIOKA: It's probably going to be at least a three or four-month process, and that is the one sole responsibility that the Advisory Board has now, is to do the search and select a president and CEO. That choice goes to the governor, the governor sends it to the Legislature, and the Legislature goes through its confirmation process. I can tell you that part of that search is not an easy task, because so much negative publicity was given with HTA over the last year, and it's no secret that there were concerns with everything. … But we're not seeing the type of quality of applicants that have applied as of this date. And part of it, I truly believe, is because some of the things that have been put out there, some of the changes to the salary structure, I think right now, though, the way it is, the governor wanted to make sure that the president and CEO wasn't paid more than the Lieutenant Governor. So that was put in a bill. So we're still working through all of that, and they have put this selection committee together, and they're going to be moving that along. How long it's going to take, I can't tell you, but I know they're having a meeting to flesh out the process and go through the names that have been submitted so far. We're not going to pay for another search firm, because we're already paid for that, and we already got a list from that. So what we're going to do now is through media, put it out there that we're looking for a new president-CEO.
This story aired on The Conversation on Jan. 20, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this interview for the web.
