Hawaii Tourism Industry Poised to Set Record Year

According to a report issued by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, it appears that the state will set new records for visitor arrivals and spending in 2014.  While the final numbers for December are still not available, during the first 11 months of the year arrivals had increased by 0.9 percent and spending grew by 2.3 percent, leaving experts predicting that December will not be any different.

David Carey, the president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group, was pleased with this development, but commented that hotel operating costs have also grown. Carey stated, "We always forget that inflation is a factor. Costs have certainly increased rapidly over the past three years: labor costs, medical costs and up until very recently, energy costs. At the end of the day it's been three years in a row of positive increase in business and that's good. The industry is getting better at getting pricing that's more in line with the quality of products here in Hawaii."

Ronald Williams, the CEO for the Hawaii Tourism Authority, commented, "Arrivals and spending from our developing international markets also continue to grow as we work toward diversifying our tourism profile and increasing first-time arrivals to the Hawaiian islands. This has helped to balance our core markets like Japan, where economic uncertainty has led to slight declines in visitor arrivals and decreases in length of stay, which are affecting total expenditures and may hinder us from reaching year-end targets for this market."

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 12-30-2014, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Principal Broker, REALTOR®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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