Technology v.s. Tourism: Hawaii's Economic Future
Guests
Philip J. Bossert, Executive Director, High Technology Development Corporation
Frank Haas, Director of Marketing, Hawaii Tourism Authority
Host:
David Lassner, Chief Information Officer, University of Hawai'i

As the State of Hawaii struggles to position itself as a home for high technology businesses, it continues to allocate $60m/yr on tourism marketing. Dr. Phil Bossert, the new interim Executive Director of Hawaii's High Technology Development Corporation has opined that every dollar we spend on marketing Hawaii as a tourist destination may negate a dollar spent promoting technology. What does the Hawaii Tourism Authority, which spends that $60m, think? It turns out that the HTA Director of Marketing is Frank Haas, former VP of Marketing for one of Hawaii's unsuccessful high tech startups, the Ohana Foundation.

Join host David Lassner of the University of Hawaii as he talks with Bossert and Haas. Their mission: to figure out whether Hawaii needs to walk away from tourism if we really want to develop a technology-based diversified economy, whether technology can be developed as an equal economic pillar standing alongside tourism, or whether there's a more symbiotic approach to leveraging our tourism base to move into technology.

During the live airing of the program, questions may be called in to 956-5670 or 1-800-342-7949 (neighbor islands), or sent by email to hth@hawaii.edu.

High Tech Hawaii is a live monthly call-in show produced by the University of Hawaii to shed light on high technology activities within the state. It airs live on the fourth Tuesday of each month during the academic year from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. It is webcast live and can be seen on PEG Access cable channels throughout the state as well as on Craig TV. On Oahu Cable it is aired live on Channel 55, on Hawaii Cable Channel 54, on Kauai Cable Channel 10, tape-delayed on Maui Cable Channel 54 and on Craig TV Channel 21. It is also webcast live using RealPlayer at: <http://www.hawaii.edu/hth>

Now in its 6th year of production, previous High Tech Hawaii shows have highlighted topics such as Kids & Networking, IT in the Travel Industry, the Hawaii-China connection, computer security, IT education and training, data centers in Hawaii, wireless, telecom regulation, electronic commerce, telemedicine, distance learning, assistive technologies for the disabled and the Pacific Telecommunications Council.

Related web sites for this show:
High Technology Development Corporation <http://www.htdc.org/>
Hawaii's Tech Industry Portal <http://www.hitechhawaii.com/>
Hawaii Tourism Authority <http://www.hawaii.gov/tourism/>

View webcast: Realplayer format