The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) was established in 1998 through Act 156 as the lead agency and advocate for Hawaii’s tourism industry, responsible for creating a vision and overseeing tourism from a statewide perspective. This same act also established the Tourism Special Fund – a set percentage of the transient accommodations tax (TAT) collections that is assessed on hotels, vacation rentals and other accommodations. This fund is the revenue source that HTA draws from, for developing, implementing and supporting its tourism programs and other efforts throughout the State.