Hawai'i Convention Center: good business amid aloha spirit.

"The people of Hawai'i have come together to extend a warm welcome to the ASAE Hawai'i 2003 Annual Meeting and Exposition," says Joe Davis, SMG general manager of the Hawai'i Convention Center. "We are especially excited to host such a prestigious conference. It is an honor to share our spirit of aloha with association executives and demonstrate why the islands are emerging as a favorite destination for meetings and conventions."

Hawai'i brings East and West together in a tropical atmosphere that encourages creativity and is supported by the solid infrastructure necessary to host meetings of any size. Hawai'i is a one-stop business destination that offers a strategic location, value, an abundance of hotel rooms, and one of the world's most progressive meetings facilities--the Hawai'i Convention Center. In fact, Hawai'i was ranked as North America's second-most desirable convention destination in the most recent Metropoll IX survey of more than 1,500 major meeting planners.

Located in a prime geographic location for conducting business in the Pacific Rim, the Hawai'i Convention Center offers more than 1 million square feet of meeting facilities including exhibit halls, theaters, and expansive conference rooms. The facility's exhibition hall spans more than 200,000 square feet. The design of the glass-front center represents the unique culture of Hawai'i, with its bold architecture, $2 million Hawai'ian art collection, and features such as the rooftop tropical garden, glass-encased meeting rooms, and outdoor function spaces lined with giant palm trees.

"The Hawai'i Convention Center offers tremendous value for major meetings and conventions. Most costs are comparable or less than doing business at other convention centers throughout the country, and rates for airfare and freight charges can still be competitive, especially with sufficient planning," says Davis.

In the islands, convention planners, exhibitors, and attendees get the best of both worlds: a great place to do business and one of the top spots in the world to relax when the work is done. And wherever they go, conventioneers are greeted with "aloha" and made to feel welcome by enthusiastic tourism supporters.

Here are 10 reasons why Hawai'i means good business.

1. Location. Hawai'i's Pacific Rim location is the perfect spot for global meetings with national and international attendance. AmericanOnline and Travel + Leisure magazine recently ranked Honolulu at the top of their categories for "peacefulness, people, and safety" for cities of more than 1 million people.

2. Value of the facility. Winner of four consecutive Prime Site Awards, the Hawai'i Convention Center is a state-of-the-art meetings facility complete with outstanding customer service, technological amenities, world-class cuisine, and distinct architecture. Currently, the cost per square foot is substantially lower than in competitive cities.

3. Competitive air costs. More than 6 million visitors come to Hawai'i every year, and nearly 15 million visitors pass through Honolulu on their way to points in Asia and the United States.

4. Hotel rooms. Thirty thousand hotel rooms are within a one-mile radius of the Hawai'i Convention Center. The only other U.S. city with such an abundance of available hotel rooms near its convention center is San Francisco, where, on average, rooms cost twice as much.

5. Productivity. The location attracts national and international participants, resulting in increased attendance and productivity.

6. Customer service. The Hawai'i Convention Center's management team, employed by SMG, provides added expertise in convention services and special attention to customer satisfaction.

7. The center technology. The center is wired with fiberoptic cabling, multilingual translation stations, satellite and microwave broadcast capability, and videoconferencing. The center has direct video access into 28,000 Waikiki hotel rooms.

8. Cuisine and service. A state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot production kitchen provides the facilities necessary to create world-class Pacific Island cuisine and continental classics as well as the humble, all-American hot dog. Executive Chef Wayne Komamura works directly with meeting planners to create special menus tailored to the preferences and budgets of attendees.

9. Industry support. The trade show and convention business is growing in Hawai'i. As a result, numerous vendors support the industry with high-tech audiovisual services, quality decorations, business services and printing, and reasonable, flexible labor.

10. Beauty. Hawai'i is a beautiful destination with a rich, unique culture providing a wide array of pre- and post-conference activities.

CONTACT

Maria Kelly, Director of Sales

Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Web site: www.hawaiiconvention.com