So what do you make of this?

It is thrilling news — just wait until the details start to evolve — that APEC (the trans-national organization awkwardly named the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) will meet in Honolulu in 2010.

Why is this important? Commentary suggests that a big multinational meeting will put Hawai'i on the tour-ism map. That's not necessary. Hawai'i, as a tourism brand, is as well-known and desirable as any on the globe. Folks know about Hawai'i and want to come here.

Where Hawai'i suffers is in having a reputation as a place where pleasure is done, but not business. Of course, those who live here know this not to be true, but we are victims of our own promotional activities. After a while, mai tais, palm trees and rolling surf take on a life of their own.

Now, serious business has been conducted in Honolulu — in Hawai'i — and will continue to be done. But mostly it goes below the radar. Whether you're a lawyer, a dentist or a Seventh-day Adventist, you want folks back home to know you're working hard, even if the weather is gorgeous.

And that's where the planned APEC meeting comes in. President Clinton was instrumental in converting this organization's gatherings from a gabfest among financial ministers and their associates into a true Asia-Pacific summit. Heads of state attend (Clinton inaugurated the tradition of wearing traditional or indigenous garments at a photo op) and while the ministers sort out matters of trade and tariffs, the big guys — and girls — conduct bilateral and multilateral business.

That's what will happen in Honolulu in 2010 if all goes as planned. It will be extraordinary — and somewhat awful for local residents. If you have experienced the chaos involved in the visit of a single head of state (say, a U.S. president), imagine what it will be like if as many as 20 of these people show up at the same place and the same time.

What the APEC meeting will deliver, as East-West Center president Charles Morrison points out, is the chance to prove that Ha-wai'i is a place for serious business as well as fun and sun. Organizers were undoubtedly attracted by the fact that this is President Obama's birth state as well as the fact that we are well armored by the military, a security advantage.

So Hawai'i is poised to seize the moment. Let's just hope that in the run-up to this, Obama moves off his quip — which he used in Singapore — that people better get their flowered shirts and grass skirts ready.

After all, Hawai'i is more than that.