Latest news with #Act196
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tourism agency brings back passenger counts after data blip
The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism has restored passenger counts from international and domestic travelers, correcting at least part of the blip in data caused by the pilot program for a digitized agriculture disclosure form. Eliminating the optional tourism questions on the back of the form for the Akamai Arrival pilot program, which runs from March 1 to May 31, initially caused the department to remove its daily passenger counts, a real-time measuring tool that has been available since Sept. 11, 2001. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the optional tourism questions on the back of the printed agricultural form were left off the digitized version to better measure compliance. She said officials chose a simplified form as they were worried that adding the more time-consuming tourism questions might skew the pilot's participation rate. Luke said the optional tourism questions currently have about a 40 % compliance rate. Jennifer Chun, DBEDT director of tourism research, estimates that the pilot eliminates tourism questions from all arriving Southwest flights, all American flights, five Alaska flights, one Delta flight, two Hawaiian flights and two United flights—roughly 31 % of scheduled flights and 28.4 % of scheduled air seats. DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said the agency received complaints after the pilot began March 1 and the agency removed daily passenger counts from its website. Tokioka said recently that DBEDT's Research and Economic Analysis Division restored the international passenger counts as of May 1, and on May 5 resumed the reporting of domestic data, albeit with a one-week delay. 'The Department of Agriculture is now providing DBEDT with the daily passenger data on a weekly basis, and we are currently working with DOA on a memorandum of understanding to receive and report the data on a daily basis, ' he said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. 'Once the MOU is approved, we will report the data at the same schedule as we have been using in the past.' The initiative was authorized under Act 196 and has been touted by state leaders, including Gov. Josh Green, Luke and Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor ) as a significant step toward modernizing Hawaii's bio security efforts. Wakai, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, said he started advocating for a digital agricultural form five years ago and initially was met with resistance, until 2024 when lawmakers passed a law encouraging the migration from paper to an app. He said ending the in-flight paper agricultural form would save at least $800, 000 annually, but more important, digitization increases completion rates and strengthens protections against invasive species. Passengers typically would complete the digitized form in advance of boarding their flight. But the initial data gap from the pilot left economists and tourism research professionals stumped on how to get enough nuanced information to calculate year-over-year comparisons for the monthly visitor arrivals and spending reports. They criticized the decision to discontinue the existing methodology, instead of temporarily running both programs in parallel so as to benchmark against the pre-existing methodology. Tokioka said DBEDT is now receiving data from the Akamai Arrival Program, so 'all the data are comparable to the past and the comparisons are valid.' He said DBEDT is planning for the future when the Plants and Animals Declaration Form becomes 100 % digital. Once that occurs, Toki oka said, 'DBEDT has two options to collect the domestic visitor data : (1 ) switch domestic visitor data collection to an airport departure survey ; (2 ) digitize the tourism survey form.' DBEDT is planning a pilot program to test the effectiveness of the two methods.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Digitized agriculture form disrupts tourism data
Akamai Arrival, the pilot program for a digitized agriculture disclosure form, left out the optional tourism questions from the back of the form, creating a blip in the state's continuous tourism arrivals set that goes back to before the jet age. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said the decision was made to initially leave off the questions to start with a simplified form. Eliminating the tourism questions for the pilot program, which runs from March 1 to May 31, caused the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism to remove its daily passenger counts, a real-time measuring tool that has been available since Sept. 11, 2001. The data gap from the pilot also has left economists and tourism research professionals stumped on how to get enough nuanced information to calculate year-over-year comparisons for the monthly visitor arrivals and spending reports. Jennifer Chun, DBEDT director of tourism research, estimates that the pilot eliminates tourism questions from all arriving Southwest flights, all American flights, five Alaska flights, one Delta flight, two Hawaiian flights and two United flights—roughly 31 % of scheduled flights and 28.4 % of scheduled air seats. Paul Brewbaker, principal of TZ Economics, said an interruption to tourism data could have serious repercussions as economists use it to make economic forecasts. Brewbaker added that the Council of Revenues relies on tourism data to figure out how much money is available for the budget. The information also is used in bond ratings, which set the interests rates for government borrowing, he said. Brewbaker said interrupting Hawaii's tourism data set is problematic when tourism 'accounts for about one-third of the neighbor island economy and 15 % to 20 % of the statewide economy.' Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. 'I'm going to go write some papers now that say, 'Here's what the tourism data tell us, and from here on out we'll never know—so this is economic history now.'' The initiative was authorized under Act 196, and has been touted by state leaders, including Gov. Josh Green, Luke and Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor ) as a significant step toward modernizing Hawaii's biosecurity efforts. Luke worked with legislators, the state Department of Agriculture, airline partners and stakeholders to develop the digital agriculture form pilot program. 'The consensus of all the airlines is that they wanted to start with a simplified form just under the agricultural declaration, and then we have the option to add more stuff as they get better in communication and customer questions, ' Luke said. 'This is kind of the first step, and then we are already having discussions about how do we reintegrate the visitor information.' Wakai, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, said he started advocating for a digital agricultural form five years ago, and initially was met with resistance, until 2024 when lawmakers passed a law encouraging the migration from paper to an app. He said ending the in-flight paper agricultural form would save at least $800, 000 annually, but more important, digitization increases completion rates and strengthens protections against invasive species. Passengers typically would complete the digitized form in advance of boarding their flight. 'Compliance for the digitized agricultural form was north of 70 %, and with the paper agricultural form it was 60 %, ' Wakai said. 'Now we are in discussions about how to add the tourism data. We may need to figure out incentives because participation in the tourism questions is voluntary.' DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said agency received complaints after the pilot began March 1 and the agency removed daily passenger counts from its website. Tokioka said that he met with Luke and the Department of Agriculture on Friday to try to determine a workaround. 'I was very encouraged by the meeting, ' he said. 'By the middle of next week, we are hoping that we can figure out how to get the passenger count.' But Chun noted that the drop in collected tourism data goes beyond passenger counts and also affects visitor statistics methodology for the Visitor Satisfaction and Activity report. She said the pilot also could affect de facto population calculations. Chris Kam, president and chief operating officer of Omnitrak, the current vendor for the in-flight form, said the in-flight tourism portion of the form goes back to 1950, and the continuous data set has given Hawaii a strategic advantage by providing a snapshot of where visitors are going in Hawaii and their length of stay, which is a key to determining how much they spend per day. 'I'm not defending one format over another. I think going digital is unavoidable and this is the right direction, but we need to make sure we do it prudently from a research perspective, ' Kam said. 'We need a bridge during the pilot, and we need it sooner rather than later.' Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki ), who chairs the House Committee on Tourism, and Sen. Lynn DeCoite (D, Lanai-Molokai-Hana ), who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, said they want to see tourism data restored quickly. 'We are in the middle of a legislative session and deciding on our budget, ' Tam said. 'We look at everything that the Council of Revenues and UHERO (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization ) puts out. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is part of the government, and they are in the middle of fighting for their budget requests, too.' DeCoite said tourism data needs to go beyond the passenger counts so that lawmakers can determine which tourism markets to invest in and where destination stewardship mitigation is needed. 'I want to know who is resident and who is visitor. I want to know what the visitor is actually doing—if they are coming under business or convention ; are they actually going out and using the parks ; are they part of a footprint that is impacting infrastructure here, ' she said. 'That will help us isolate out if the extra added impact fee that we are talking about would be sufficient or do we continue to do a reservation system.' Luke said it has not been determined when the tourism questions will be reintegrated into the digital agricultural form, and that more change is inevitable. She said conversations are needed now to determine how to capture the tourism data if the state moves from a digital agricultural declaration form to an advance notice. Luke said the optional tourism questions currently have about about a 40 % compliance rate. She said the Legislature has provided the Hawai 'i Tourism Authority with $3 million to begin planning for a smart tourism app, which could incorporate visitor data into a whole tourism experience. 'People cannot wait until some things are done, and then they panic and react, ' Luke said.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hawaii to launch digitized Agriculture Declaration Form
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, left, and designer David Shepard presented the new digital interface of Akamai Arrival during a news conference Monday at Daniel K. Ino uye International Airport, where Gov. Josh Green announced the March launch of a pilot program to digitize the Plants and Animals Declaration Form. 1 /2 GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, left, and designer David Shepard presented the new digital interface of Akamai Arrival during a news conference Monday at Daniel K. Ino uye International Airport, where Gov. Josh Green announced the March launch of a pilot program to digitize the Plants and Animals Declaration Form. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ State Sen. Glenn Wakai, left, inspected the live examples of invasive species on display. Gov. Green is shown in the background. 2 /2 GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ State Sen. Glenn Wakai, left, inspected the live examples of invasive species on display. Gov. Green is shown in the background. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, left, and designer David Shepard presented the new digital interface of Akamai Arrival during a news conference Monday at Daniel K. Ino uye International Airport, where Gov. Josh Green announced the March launch of a pilot program to digitize the Plants and Animals Declaration Form. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ State Sen. Glenn Wakai, left, inspected the live examples of invasive species on display. Gov. Green is shown in the background. The digitization of Hawaii's Plants and Animals Declaration Form is set to be launched in March under the Akamai Arrival pilot program, state leaders announced Monday. The initiative, authorized under Act 196 during the previous legislative session, represents a significant step toward modernizing the state's biosecurity efforts by improving form completion rates and enhancing protections against invasive species. The pilot program will run from Saturday through May 31, concentrating exclusively on ensuring compliance with the new digital technology. While the state intends to add tourism-related checks into the digital process in the future, the current initiative will primarily enhance the review of travelers' agricultural declarations. Beginning Saturday, the pilot program, overseen by the state Department of Agriculture, will be implemented on select domestic flights in collaboration with major airlines including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. Participating airlines will integrate the digital form into their arrival processes, allowing passengers to submit their required agricultural declarations more efficiently before landing in Hawaii. 'It is a great relief to see this innovation. To have it be done electronically is going to be very positive. It's going to be helpful for our state, but most importantly, it's our biosecurity weapon, ' Gov. Josh Green said. 'We're taking this important step today to begin to modernize how we protect Hawaii and launch this Akamai Arrival pilot program.' Green emphasized that the initiative is not only focused on safeguarding agricultural security, but also aims to protect the overall ecosystem, which contributes to the health of local communities and beyond. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. The collaborative effort among Green, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, legislators, airline partners and stakeholders to modernize state processes aims to safeguard Hawaii's natural heritage. 'This is what government should be doing—utilizing technology to improve our state processes and better serve the public. Every one of us, whether coming home or traveling to Hawai 'i, is very familiar with filling out the paper agriculture form. By digitizing this form, we're making compliance easier for travelers while using technology to protect what makes Hawai 'i so special, ' Luke said. Airlines participating in the pilot have discretion over flight selection and implementation methods. The 'Akamai Arrival ' website will serve as a central hub for passengers, providing access to the digital form, flight information and an FAQ page to assist travelers. 'U.S. airlines play a critical role in connecting travelers to Hawai 'i, and the transition from paper to digital agriculture declaration forms is a significant step toward modernizing the travel experience, ' Sean Williams, Airlines for America vice president of state and local government affairs, said in a statement. 'We're proud to support the 'Akamai Arrival' program, making the arrival process more seamless and efficient for travelers.' Travelers should be aware that all arrivals from the mainland to Hawaii are required by state law to complete the Agriculture Declaration Form. Since its implementation in 1973, this form has been a critical tool in preventing the introduction of invasive species that threaten Hawaii's unique ecosystem. Failing to complete the form accurately or defacing it can result in serious consequences, as people who provide false information or neglect to declare prohibited or restricted items—including plants, animals and certain food products—face severe penalties. Violations could result in a misdemeanor charge with fines of up to $25, 000 and /or up to one year in prison. Furthermore, intentionally smuggling prohibited items, such as snakes or other invasive species, could escalate to a Class C felony, carrying a maximum penalty of $200, 000 and /or up to five years in prison. 'We are saying aloha to a 79-year-old process, ' said state Sen. Glenn Wakai, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs. 'The AG form was introduced to the state of Hawaii in 1946. We've been addicted to the paper for all of that time. Ridiculous. … I engaged the Department of Agriculture to figure out how we can digitize this paper AG form. To be honest, they were very reluctant for a number of years, and they told me to force them to do it. So I said, 'All right, I'm gonna change the law.'' According to Wakai, Hawaii boasts the best tourism data in the nation, largely due to its long-standing requirement for travelers to complete the Agriculture Declaration Form. Since the introduction of tourism-related information in the 1950s, the form has provided valuable insights into the effectiveness of marketing efforts. While the current pilot program focuses on agricultural compliance, Wakai assured that the tourism aspect will not be overlooked ; it will soon be integrated into the digital format, ensuring that essential data continues to be collected. Monthly progress updates will be shared with participating airlines, and data collected will help determine potential expansions of the program in the future. Travelers are encouraged to consult their airline carriers for specific details about how to complete the digital form, which might involve options for pre-arrival completion, including check-in reminders or in-flight Wi-Fi access.
