Hawaii officials say they are ready to host the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture next week. FestPAC, the largest gathering of Pacific Islanders, is anticipated to draw more than 100,000 people and over 2,100 delegates from 26 Pacific nations and territories. Festival Director Aaron Salā said Kiribati was the first Pacific nation to arrive on island, while others are expected to land later this week.
“They will start coming in one after the other,” he said during a Tuesday news conference. “Some of them, for instance, Aotearoa (New Zealand) are coming in eight different flights. Some of them are coming in one fell swoop.
” Salā also said the hosting team will be at the Honolulu airport to greet and transport delegates to their housing. Some will stay in dorms at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and the East-West Centre, while others will stay in Waikīkī hotels. The state has allocated more than US$12 million to plan FestPAC.
So far, festival planners have spent more than US$9.6 million for delegate housing at UH, venue costs at the Hawaii Convention Centre, and the festival provider Gravitas Pasifika. Gravitas Pasifika was subcontracted to manage event production, building the Festival Village, delegate transportation, meals, broadcasting and more, according to an official at the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
The largest part of the US$20 million budget for the festival was the buildout of the Festival Village at the.
