Concerns over the nation's slowing economy have taken center stage nationally and locally. From the State of the Union, to the platforms of the presidential candidates, to our local business and community leaders — the economy is on everyone's mind. The ripple effects are already being felt in Hawai'i's visitor industry, as our visitor numbers for 2007 and forecast for 2008 continue to confirm the expected softening of the market.

Tourism is Hawai'i's No. 1 industry. It drives our economy and accounts for more than one-quarter of all spending. Tourism is also a major economic driver for the United States. It supports 7.5 million jobs, $177 billion in payroll and contributes nearly $100 billion in taxes. It's the first, second or third largest industry in many cities. And since 9/11, international tourism has increased in other parts of the world by some 20 percent, yet decreased in our country by some 17 percent. Travel and tourism helps raise America's image around the world, but foreign visitors increasingly consider the U.S. as having the world's worst entry process and are spending their travel money in other destinations.

This is why I have been actively involved with the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) as a member of its advisory board and as chairman of the group's Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee to advance travel and tourism policies on a national level.

At the recent USCM winter meeting, I spoke at our first-ever plenary session devoted to travel and tourism. I was joined by Sen. Daniel Inouye, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and travel industry leaders John W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, and Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels and chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable. As Sen. Inouye reaffirmed, "Although travel and tourism is a driving force for our nation's economy, our government has relegated travel and tourism to a second-tier status."

I've always maintained that in addition to ensuring public safety and maintaining our infrastructure, another important part of a mayor's job is to promote our cities. If your city is not safe, tourists will not come. Honolulu now has the distinction of being one of the safest big cities in America.

If your infrastructure is deteriorating, tourists will not come. The sewage spill in Waikiki could have devastated our economy, but we were able to prevent this and are now correcting decades of neglect. As the world gets flatter and competition increases, promoting our cities is essential. All of these responsibilities go hand-in-hand with boosting the economy and increasing travel and tourism.

Significant progress has been made with the USCM's adoption of key resolutions supporting visa reforms, entry improvements, travel promotion, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and expanding leisure group travel from China. Most significantly, I led the charge to have tourism and arts listed as one of the points in the USCM's 10-Point Plan: "Strong Cities ... Strong Families ... for a Strong America."

In our plan, the nation's mayors call for travel and tourism to be a national policy priority. We must enhance national security, while at the same time boost international travel to the U.S. through visa reforms, entry improvements and promotion. In particular, we're pushing for the expansion of the visa waiver program to countries like South Korea and Taiwan.

We are pushing for the passage of the Travel Promotion Act, which would establish the first substantial international marketing campaign to promote America overseas as a travel destination. We are urging the creation of a Cabinet-level secretary of culture and tourism, which countries around the world have established, recognizing the economic importance of tourism and arts.

We also believe that the arts and humanities are essential to the quality of life of our cities and continue to advocate for more government funding for the arts. On behalf of the USCM, I participated in a first-ever arts forum for the presidential candidates a few months ago, which resulted in five presidential candidates (three of whom are still running) establishing arts platforms.

To ramp up more national awareness for travel and tourism, the USCM is planning to host the first-ever Presidential Forum on Travel and Tourism this year in partnership with other tourism industry organizations. We will also have another plenary session devoted to travel and tourism at the USCM Summer Annual Conference in Miami and I will be part of a newly formed Mayors' Olympic Task Force to support Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.

The bottom line is that these public-private partnerships will not only reap economic and diplomatic benefits for cities across the country and the nation as a whole, but in particular will benefit Honolulu and, most definitely, the state of Hawai'i.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.