The Hawai'i Tourism Authority's marketing committee yesterday approved $4.1 million to help attract more visitors from the Mainland over the near term.

Agency executives said the money will help the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau build on its recent success in luring tourists from Western states, Hawai'i's largest market.

"We are very optimistic by the increase in visitors from the U.S. West in May and June," said Mike McCartney, president and chief executive officer of HTA. "The additional funding from the marketing opportunity fund will allow us to aggressively target our core market and boost travel to Hawai'i."

In addition, the committee is recommending the approval of its 2010 marketing plans for major markets. The plans will be presented at the next HTA board meeting.

WEB SITE MONITORS WAI'ANAE COAST AIR

Hawaiian Electric Co. has launched a Web site that provides information about air quality on the Wai'anae Coast, where the utility has most of its electrical generation stations.

The Web site, www.westoahuair.com, includes data from three air quality monitoring stations in Wai'anae, Lualualei and Camp Timberline.

The monitoring stations are part of an agreement with community members to track environmental conditions in the area.

Readings at each site, updated every hour, determine the area's daily air quality based on the presence of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.