Hawaii Tourism CEO bribed by Air China and Japan Airlines and fined by the State of Hawaii

Is accepting a complimentary airline upgrade considered a bribe? The State of Hawaii Ethics committee is convinced. Millions of arrivals, millions in tourism promotions, the travel and tourism industry in Hawaii is a billion dollar industry,  and constitutes the largest export for the US State of Hawaii. Hawaii Tourism Executives maintain representatives and often fly to their source markets to the mainland USA or Canada, to China, Japan, Korea or Australia. Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean every flight is long-haul. Los Angeles is 5 1/2 hours, Tokyo 7 1/2 hours,  New York 11 1/2 hours or Beijing 11 hours away from the Aloha State.

The State organization in charge of running Hawaii Tourism is the Hawaii Tourism Authority. George Szigeti is the CEO and by all means, this title is similar to the title of a minister of tourism of a country.  The Chief Operating Officer Randy Baldemor is the second most important tourism executive in the State.

Tourism executives are busy people, especially if they need to travel to Tokyo to attend a dinner and a short conference on a two-day trip. It’s a  routine task for executives running a large tourism board or ministry of tourism worldwide.

Any minister of tourism would fly first class to getting a good night’s sleep on the plane to arrive rested when representing his or her country abroad.

How should a CEO or COO of a large US State Tourism Board travel? First, business or coach?  Most people would say First for the CEO, business class for the COO.

In Hawaii, State executives are expected to squeeze in coach and they are expected to do a good job and not be tired, when they get to their destination to represent the Aloha State’s essential tourism product.

Millions in profits are generated in Hawaii, and policymakers worry about the CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority to fly business class.

It comes even worse. The Ethics committee in Hawaii is not worried about paying for business, fines are issued for executives cashing in on status upgrades from a coach seat to a business class seat on a flight.

Hundred- thousands of frequent flyers in the world may be required to pay for coach, but there are many options to upgrade a ticket these days without paying for it. Frequent flyer miles, complimentary status updates, paying a coach fare with an automatic upgrade or a smile at the airline’s station manager can often do the job. No one would ever think this would constitute bribery, except for Hawaii officials.

Not charging Hawaii taxpayers for the business class tickets is commendable and should be rewarded. In Hawaii it means $12,000 in fines are imposed on Hawaii Tourism Authority executives, including the CEO and COO, and it means bribery.

Szigeti and the others are accused of free upgrades on international flights while traveling in their official capacity as state employees. They are also accused of failing to disclose the gifts as required by law.


Shouldn’t it be time also for the State of Hawaii to go with the times? Embarrassing and not encouraging for people in top leadership.

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