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State auditor finds Hawaii Tourism Authority’s DMAPs poorly planned and weakly tracked
Summary
A state performance audit presented to House and Senate tourism committees found HTA’s destination management action plans (DMAPs) were rushed, had unclear criteria for hotspots and steering‑committee membership, relied heavily on contractors, and tracked few completed actions.
The state auditor told the joint House and Senate tourism committees that the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s destination management action plans — known as DMAPs — were produced under a tight schedule, often contracted out, and left HTA with poor measures to show whether DMAP actions actually addressed resident concerns at identified hotspots.
"The DMAP process is intended to be a community driven process," auditor testimony quoted HTA material, but the audit found planning and execution were ‘‘rushed, without clear prioritization, and relied heavily on contractors to develop and run the process.’’ The auditor reported HTA created DMAPs for each island and that auditors found 97 hotspots listed across plans but only 26 subaction items that related directly to hotspots; of those, only four subactions were marked complete.
The audit also said HTA’s strategic performance indicators were not adjusted to measure destination management outcomes and that the agency had, in some places, stopped tracking progress on action items. The audit team showed copies of island hotspot lists and said several places named as hotspots were not clearly within HTA’s authority (examples discussed include federal parks and city‑managed sites).
Senators and representatives pressed HTA staff on how DMAP priorities were selected and how funding decisions were made. HTA officials said community steering committees and contracted consultants led the development of many action items and that HTA staff and board approved final action lists, while acknowledging improvements are needed in selection criteria and funding prioritization.
The auditor recommended clearer criteria for steering committee membership, explicit prioritization and funding criteria for action items, stronger in‑house oversight (fewer delegated contractor decisions), and improved KPIs tied to destination management goals. HTA said it has reviewed the audit, has directed staff to incorporate lessons learned, and will provide follow‑up documentation to the committees.
