Meeting News - September 21, 2009 - (Page HI12)

Golf courses come in a variety of settings, ranging from rainforests and volcanic terrain to coral sea cliffs, palm-dotted terrain, and sandy beaches. Here, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island. VENUE MENU The Hawaiian islands’ golf incentive menu consists of six distinctly different islands. Here’s a cursory glance at what each has to offer: • Big Island — Almost twice as large as the other Hawaiian islands combined, the Big Island has courses that utilize tropical rainforests, lava beds, and great stretches of rolling grasslands. A memorable golf program can be easily planned. • Oahu — Home to more golf courses than any of the other islands, Oahu has 40 layouts, encompassing municipal, high-end daily fee, and elegant resort courses. • Maui — Consisting of two mountain masses separated by a low, narrow valley, Maui is a resort-studded paradise with 16 courses and a well-developed tourism infrastructure that reduces logistical issues for planners. • Kauai — A stunningly beautiful mixture of vegetation, canyons, streams, and waterfalls, Kauai is called “The Garden Isle” for good reason. Its resort courses offer scenic holes that demand shotmaking. • Lanai — Nine miles from Maui, Lanai feels like an isolated paradise far from the nearest tourist crowds. Here, golf is dominated by two of golf’s biggest player-designers, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. • Molokai — Only 38 miles long and 10 miles wide at its widest point, Molokai, with its pineapple and coffee plantations, has a laid-back style and limited golf options. Its Kaluakoi golf course has more ocean frontage than any other course in Hawaii. — ES enticing hawaii n this age of budget cutbacks and scaledowns, why choose Hawaii for a golf-based incentive? First and foremost, Hawaii always excites delegates and has a proven track record of increased attendance for its incentive programs. Aside from its collection of luxury golf resorts, which is among the best in the world, Hawaii offers more than 70,000 hotel rooms ranging from ultra-luxurious to economical and top-notch meeting facilities. Enhancing its appeal is its mid-Pacific location, which provides a centralized I location between business meccas like New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Best of all, when golf-loving attendees are rewarded with a Hawaii incentive, the dreaded “ho-hum factor” is alleviated—this tropical paradise is universally regarded as the ultimate dream golf vacation. “From an operational standpoint, golf resorts in Hawaii are set up to accommodate golfers from the mainland,” says Bud Arenz, president of A Arenz Travel Planner Associates, a Meadow Vista, California, firm that has coordinated several corporate golf incentives in Hawaii over the past few years. “Resort staffs are experienced and adept at organizing tournaments, golf events, clinics, and skills competitions.” Arenz says a typical five-day incentive program would include a two-day golf tournament and activities such as Pearl Harbor or volcano tours, inter-island hopping, or a private luau planned by a local DMC. In March, 100 delegates convened at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu for the Western States Bar Conference, whose members include the states from North Dakota to the Pacific Island territories of the Northern Mariana Islands. Utilizing the resort’s 31,000-square-foot Pacific Rim Conference Center, which is specifically designed for incentive groups, the attendees had general breakfast sessions in one of the ballrooms followed by 12 SuccessfulMeetings/MeetingNews | September 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Contents
Pricing Forecast
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Event Profile

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

Meeting News - September 21, 2009 -

Meeting News - September 21, 2009

(Page Cover1)
Meeting News - September 21, 2009 -

Meeting News - September 21, 2009