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Hawaii Maps Out Obama's Refuges

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By HERBERT A. SAMPLE

The Associated Press

Published: December 7, 2008

HONOLULU - Criticized for moving slowly to take advantage of a native son's election to the presidency, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has unveiled a Web site listing some of the spots President-elect Barack Obama has visited as an adult.

The site, www.gohawaii.com/ obama, highlights locations Obama and his family visited during a respite from the Democratic primary campaign in August, including Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay and a local country club where he played golf.

Its creation follows criticism from one of the state's top Democrats that the Hawaii Tourism Authority was not planning to promote Hawaii during Obama's inaugural events in Washington in January.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said that millions of people are traveling to the nation's capitol for the inauguration "and Hawaii is doing zero ... We are missing out on it."

David Uchiyama, vice president of tourism marketing, said Tuesday the agency did not respond because it began working on Obama-related projects right after his election.

For example, Uchiyama said the authority is assisting three local musical troops competing to be Hawaii's entrant in the inaugural parade: the Royal Hawaiian Band and bands from Pearl City High School and Punahou School. The latter is where Obama attended junior high and high school.

The authority also is attempting to talk with the inauguration committee on getting Hawaii-based entertainers into the inaugural ball, he said.

"We're trying to get a clear picture on President-elect Obama's attendance to that," Uchiyama said.

More broadly, tourism officials hope that whatever promotion they do for Hawaii or Obama-related locations will attract more tourists, he said. Tourism in Hawaii has declined in recent months, concurrent with national economic problems.

"There's a lot of interest, as you can see in some of the articles being written about his time in Chicago," Uchiyama said.

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