Power Player

Kauai Visitors Bureau’s Sue Kanoho packs a punch in more ways than one.

Late last year, Travel Agent Magazine named Sue Kanoho one of the “Most Powerful Women in Travel.” Magazine officials probably didn’t know at the time that Kanoho packs a wallop in more ways than one. A former stuntwoman and animal trainer with a black belt in karate, Kanoho has also been the executive director of the Kauai Visitors Bureau (KVB) for the past five years. Although her roundhouse kick is killer, it was undoubtedly her enthusiastic, straight-talking advocacy of the Garden Isle and its tourist industry that won her recognition.

“It’s was quite an honor to be singled out,” says Kanoho. “To pick little Sue Kanoho from Kauai, well, that was a big surprise to be singled out from all those other women.”

Listening to Kanoho lay out her organization’s game plan for 2002, it’s hard to believe that she is relatively new to the tourism promotion business, and it’s even harder to imagine that the executive wasn’t born and bred in Hawaii. Kanoho is a California girl, born in Long Beach and raised in nearby Laguna Beach. She had her first contact with Hawaii and its culture when she joined the Polynesian Karate Association, where she would eventually earn her black belt. Through her work in the martial arts, Kanoho got involved in animal training, which in turn led to a brief career as a stuntwoman. Among her many other jobs, Kanoho performed stunts for the hit television show, Charlie’s Angels.

Island Advocate: The Kauai Visitor's Bureau's Sue Kanoho says her island offers what many are looking for: peace and quiet.

By the mid-1980s, Kanoho came to a crossroads in her life. While the world of film and television was exciting, stunt work was growing increasingly dangerous. Kanoho applied for and got a job in production at Disney, but a director’s strike put the position on hold. Meanwhile, she decided to take a little break to think about her big career move, visiting her parents, who had moved to Poipu on Kauai.

“When I first came to Kauai, I had a great time, but I told my mom that I didn’t think I could ever live here. It seemed too slow for me at the time. Now, I’m busier than I have ever been,” says Kanoho, who is a member of a half-dozen different civic organizations. Kanoho returned to California. But when her mother called shortly after and told her of Kauai’s growing film industry, Kanoho packed her bags.

“My original plan was to apply to be the island’s film commissioner,” says Kanoho. “But I and my mother didn’t know at the time that it wasn’t a funded position.”

Instead, Kanoho got a job working at the Kauai Hilton before landing a job as an administrative assistant with the Kauai Economic Development Board. After two years, she was running the place as its executive director. In 1997, she moved over to the KVB.

Kanoho is optimistic about Kauai’s tourist industry for 2002. Because of the high proportion of time-share condominiums, the island was able to recover quickly from the aftereffects of Sept. 11. According to Kanoho, time-share holders take a bigger ownership stake in their vacations and tend not to cancel stays as much as other visitors. Today, occupancy rates at Kauai’s time shares are hovering in the 90 percent range, right back to normal levels. In addition, airline arrivals to Kauai, down 5.7 percent from 2001, have suffered the lowest drop of any island in the state.

Kanoho believes that Kauai is popular because it offers what the world is looking for right now: peace and quiet. However, she is quick to point out that she is not and will not market the island as some safe haven from terrorism.

“There are no guarantees in this world anymore, none,” says Kanoho. “Kauai is a great destination and a wonderful place to rejuvenate. But we’re not going to take advantage of a horrible situation to get the word out. That’s not what this island and its people are about.”

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