Folks who greet visitors with song at the airport, those who perform hula nightly in Waikiki and organizers of Sunset on the Beach movies urged members of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority yesterday to exercise caution in trimming their programs.

The state's lead tourism agency last month said plummeting hotel room tax revenue was forcing the authority to cut money from various programs. The board indicated it must hold back $17 million in money that had been set aside cultural initiatives.

That amounts to about 20 percent of the $88 million budget, according to acting HTA chairman Lloyd Unebasami.

Waikiki Improvement Association president Rick Egged earlier told board members that eliminating the $1.75 million that helps support Sunset on the Beach movies and the daily hula show and torch lighting at Kuhio Beach could jeopardize those events.

The board also was scheduled to hear a report on the cruise industry and get an update on the search for a new president and CEO but the weather prevented some Neighbor Island members of the board from attending.

That left the board without enough voting members to continue the meeting beyond noon yesterday when member Vernon Char left because he could not reschedule another commitment.

Lulani Arquette, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, cautioned the board against cutting too deeply into these programs that help share the culture of the Islands with visitors.

"I know that there have been very, very difficult times in the last few months," she said, referring to the double-digit dips in the numbers of visitors coming to Hawai'i. But Arquette warned that cutting into hula and culture initiatives risks reducing the "essence of aloha."

Last month, the board discussed whether any money would be expended to have a presence at the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie urged the HTA to spend money to put on a major Hawai'i show to help spur tourism.

Board chairman Kelvin Bloom said he expects the board to meet before late January but did not yet have a firm date.

"We are in a budget crisis," Bloom said. He said the board would be better able to determine further budget cuts and support after Jan. 9 when the state Council on Revenues meets and after seeing another month of hotel-room tax revenues.

After 35 years in the visitor industry, kumu hula Wayne Kaho'onei Panoke said he is a big advocate of marketing. But he said the $240,000 that HTA spends annually to help pay for nightly hula in Waikiki is worth far more.

"That is an experience that our visitors will never forget," in part because the event brings local residents and performers to Waikiki where they mingle with visitors in a way that is memorable for both groups, he said.