Blog Posts By Author: Trey Frank

On April 2nd I had the privilege of attending a luncheon hosted by the University of Hawaii School of Travel Industry Management honoring His Excellency Mohamed Rachad Bouhlal, Ambassador to the United States for the Kingdom of Morocco, and several other delegates; President of the Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer Region Council, M.M. Bouamor Taghouan; Director General of the Agency of the South, M. Ahmed Hajji and Secretary General of Economic and Social Council of Morocco, M. Driss Guerraui. The luncheon celebrated the Morocco-Hawaii Sister State relationship and the donation of an authentic Moroccan fountain to be installed on the grounds of the Hawaii State Art Museum along Richards Street.

As a representative of WATG, I conveyed our firm's design philosophy and its alignment with the Ambassador's vision for development and tourism in Morocco. WATG is already doing work in the region, so Ambassador Bouhlal was intrigued by our portfolio of world-wide projects as we discussed strategies to further tourism through planning and architecture.

We look forward to a long working relationship and collaborating to bring tourism to the region.

For a guy who lives in Hawaii, heading into cooler climes in the winter has its perks, as I was able to dust off my beaver fur hat on a recent trip to China. I was traveling with Kevin Ho and Janice Li; and, as you can see behind me, the team can literally walk on water. We were in Guiyang presenting the Guizhou Golf Resort design package to our client group. The presentation was well received and thanks go out to the team members who could not travel with us. Guiyang is much farther South than Beijing, and the project is designed to be a second-home market catering to residents from Beijing and Shanghai. With mild winters and cool summers, it is destined to be a tremendous success. The project has four luxury hotels, numerous private villas, an entertainment  complex, an Olympic training center, and 36-hole championship golf course.