The Hawai'i Tourism Authority and its industry partners plan to spend an additional $12 million on marketing through March to help combat the slump in tourism.

The funds are on top of some $54 million already set aside for marketing out of the projected $88 million HTA budget for the current fiscal year, which began in July.

Tourism, the state's largest industry, has been hit hard by rising airfares and the deepening U.S. economic downturn. The latest data from the state show that visitor arrivals fell 6.6 percent during the first seven months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.

The additional spending was outlined at the HTA's board meeting yesterday. David Uchiyama, HTA's vice president of tourism marketing, said the new marketing funds will target markets that have direct air service to Hawai'i: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, Dallas and New York City.

"There's never been a campaign like this," Uchiyama said.

The beefing up of the marketing budget means that other programs funded by the HTA, such as cultural programs, likely will see some cuts.

"No programs were totally eliminated," said Rex Johnson, HTA's president and chief executive officer. "There's trimming that went on in every strategic category except marketing."

The monthly board meeting stretched throughout the day as various organizations and individuals came before the board to argue against cutting their programs.

Peter Apo, a former state lawmaker and a respected advocate for Hawaiian values and culture, said he understands that the industry needs to respond to the deepening decline.

"We need to do something," he said, but urged restraint in cutting programs that support Hawaiian culture, workforce development and product development.

Apo cautioned against the old policy that some Hawai'i hotels followed in the past when times were tough: "The first people to get fired are the musicians and hula dancers."

Kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine also urged the board to resist cutting its support of hula festivals and other support for native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.

Failing that cultural support "is cutting your legs off," Taka-mine said. "There's no reason to fly across the Pacific. They can go right down to Puerto Rico."

Another program worried about funding is the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai'i, which helps visitors who run into trouble here with everything from a car break-in to the murder of a family member.

Director Jessica Lani Rich said the society and volunteers help take care of visitors and the experience often turns them into lifelong repeat visitors.

"We show the aloha," she said.

The board also learned that the decline took a bite out of the last fiscal year's hotel-room tax revenue. The year ended with $78.4 million in hotel-room tax revenue allocated for the agency, down $4.5 million from what was projected.

The new fiscal year originally projected a budget of $88 million prior to the downturn but the decline has the agency revising those estimates.

Board Chairman Kelvin Bloom said after watching the last couple of months of double-digit decreases in hotel occupancy, "I'm not sure we can get anywhere close to $76 million."

Outrigger Enterprises Group president and CEO David Carey said the visitor industry is struggling with fundamental changes, not like the deep temporary dip after Sept. 11.

He urged the board to "strike the balance" between marketing and supporting cultural programs, festivals and other enrichment programs.

"It's a tough problem," Carey said. He said people still come to Hawai'i the first time for the weather, but "they come back for the culture."