Hawaii is on the list of potential sites to host next year’s G7 summit

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Next year's G7 summit could be coming to the islands.

White House officials confirmed Hawaii was on the short list of locations being considered, prior to the President dropping plans to hold the international conference at his Miami resort.

There’s no word yet on a specific location the Trump administration may be interested in, but local tourism officials say besides Oahu –- Maui could have a shot at hosting the event.

“It’s not like the President’s unfamiliar with Hawaii. He has a presence here,” said Mufi Hannemann.

That’s one reason the head of the state’s Lodging and Tourism Association believes Hawaii stands a good chance of winning out over other destinations.

“We have the venues, we have the accommodations, we have the lodging,” said Hannemann. " And I think when you look at it from a standpoint of safety and security that’s always been one of our major selling points."

The islands are once again a possibility after President Trump scrapped plans over the weekend, to hold the summit at his Florida golf resort amid accusations he was exploiting his office for personal profit.

“The Democrats went crazy,” said President Trump. “Even though I would have done it free. Saved the country a lot of money. Then they say ‘Oh but you’ll get promotion.’ Who cares? You don’t think I get enough promotion? I get more promotion than any human being that’s ever lived!”

Prior to the announcement, White House officials had named Hawaii and Utah as finalists in an initial search.

Hannemann believes both Oahu and Maui may be contenders.

“Oahu is always where they think they should be. But I don’t think Maui is out of the question,” said Hannemann. “Wailea, they have six or seven resorts right there. And you can kind of lock it in from a security standpoint.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Hawaii hosted an international political convention of this scale.

The 2011 world leaders converged in Honolulu for the APEC summit.

The week long gathering caused traffic congestion and triggered protests in the streets. The conference ended up costing the state close to $21 million which was only partially reimbursed.

Hannemann admits like APEC, the G7 summit would temporarily put strain on some local resources, "There’s going to be a lot of burden placed on the police department, the fire department. All law enforcement officials.

With that said he believes the good that could come from this far outweighs the bad.

“It will show Hawaii is a great place to just to vacation but to do business,” said Hannemann.

Back in 2012 President Barack Obama hosted the G8 summit at Camp David.

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