Major festivals and events, Hawaiian cultural programs and visitor assistance can expect to feel the impact of budget trimming by the state's lead tourism agency, forced to re-evaluate by falling tax revenues.

Acting Hawai'i Tourism Authority president and CEO Lloyd Unebasami said the state agency is working to trim projects and programs carefully rather than just slashing entire initiatives.

He noted that the festivals and events program faced a big hit, with its budget dropping from $1.4 million to $600,000. Unebasami said the agency will be examining which festivals receive how much money in the upcoming year.

As the state's slump in visitors continues, officials at the Hawai'i Tourism Authority have proposed cutting the agency's $88 million budget by $17 million, or about 20 percent.

Unebasami said the agency limited its support of natural resources initiatives. It was able to eliminate $2 million in beach restoration money since no projects were slated for the upcoming year.

"We're trying to be as wise with our funds as possible," Unebasami said.

At the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai'i, the proposed cut will trim $140,000 from a $600,000 projected budget for the program that helps visitors in trouble. The organization is among those beginning to learn the potential impact of HTA cutbacks after the budget trims began to emerge publicly at the agency's monthly meeting on Thursday.

On O'ahu, the society president and executive director is Jessica Lani Rich. Any cuts concern her, Rich said, but she understands that HTA is faced with difficult choices with the double-digit decreases in the number of visitor arrivals for Hawai'i's No. 1 industry.

She said the actual decrease in the budget will be $40,000 rather than the full amount because the state had been poised to increase the budget by $100,000. The society helps visitors with a wide variety of emergencies from car break-ins, thefts and robberies to medical emergencies, and people who die here on vacation.

In the past two years, the nonprofit organization has helped between 1,600 and 2,000 people annually.

"Every visitor is important," Rich said. "We deal with people in crisis." The organization helps visitors with lost IDs, food vouchers, transportation and other aid.

Rich worries because there has been a recent upswing in thefts, car break-ins and robberies of visitors. "We think it's caused by the economy," she said. "It's a challenging time for us."

Unebasami pointed to the Hawaiian Culture initiatives as an example where some of its programs may be downsized, but none will be eliminated entirely.

That program area was to have been funded with a little more than $2.3 million but will be reduced by about $975,000.

HTA project development manager Robbie Kane said the cuts will be felt in various ways.

"There will be less money to go around," Kane said. "We'll still be able to do some of those projects but not as many."

Although the agency operates on a fiscal year that begins July 1, it supports programs that run on a calendar year, so most cuts will be felt beginning in January.

Last year, the agency's Hawaiian culture support extended to efforts across the state. They included Hana Retreat on Maui, where canoe plant gardens and workshop series were aimed at increasing self-sufficiency in food at a cost of $18,764.

The Hula Preservation Society, based on O'ahu, conducted 20 oral interviews with hula elders on all islands, and received $59,634. And Kahilu Theatre in Waimea on the Big Island received $30,000 for an " 'ukulele and slack-key guitar institute" that documented paniolo music through workshops and performances.

Another budget area that saw significant trims was communications and outreach, where nearly $3.8 million was trimmed from public relations, Web site expansion and support of Neighbor Island visitor offices.

One area that lost all funding for the next year was $2 million for the greeting program for airports and cruise ships where dancers and musicians enhance arrivals and departures.