The Hawaii Tourism Authority says any increase to the transit accommodations tax could hobble the state’s recovering tourism economy.

The increased tax would also be a burden on tourists and make Hawaii a less competitive destination, the agency says.

From HTA CEO Mike McCartney, via an HTA press release:

An increase to the TAT would negatively affect Hawaii’s competitive position in the marketplace by putting an additional tax on our visitors. This could cause us to lose momentum in the significant gains in visitor arrivals and spending experienced over the past three years. We need to ensure the continued success of our industry for the state’s economy to be sustainable.

Hawaii is a leisure destination, where the visitor’s spending is discretionary. As such, our visitor market is price-sensitive, and any increase could drive a traveler to a competing destination. An increase to the TAT will only diminish Hawaii’s ability to compete in a price-sensitive market.

Currently, the visitor industry supports more than 166,000 jobs and we anticipate this number to grow this year. However, we are still well below the peak of more than 178,000 jobs in 2005, and the TAT increase could cause a loss of jobs in the tourism sector.