If you’re looking into Maui’s economic conditions as you evaluate the real estate prospects, you may be interested in some recent data released by the Hawaii Tourism Authority that has revealed a new record in visitor arrivals to Hawaii in October, 2016. Being that tourism is Hawaii’s largest industry, this information says a lot about what you can expect from our economy.
The report revealed a 4.3 percent increase in October arrivals, with a final tally that came out to 717,486 visitors. Spending also jumped 7 percent to $1.2 billion, compared to the same month last year. All islands but Oahu saw an increase in spending, which brings us to the question of how Maui fared in comparison with the state average and its neighboring islands.
If we want to look at the data that shows the most complete picture, we have to look at the year-to-date information in the report. It revealed that in the first 10 months of this year, Maui had a 4.2 percent increase in visitors, followed by Oahu’s 2.1 percent increase, the Big Island’s 1.7 percent increase, and Kauai’s 0.5 percent increase.
As for spending, Maui saw a 9.6 percent increase to $3.7 billion in the first 10 months of the year, while spending on the Big Island was up 9.4 percent to $1.7 billion, followed by Kauai’s 8.5 percent jump to $1.4 billion. Oahu’s spending remained flat. This data paints a very clear picture of the power behind Maui’s visitor industry, not to mention its continued status as an iconic vacation destination.
As for the state as a whole, in the first 10 months of 2016, we saw a 2.8 percent increase in arrivals to 7.42 million, and a 4 percent jump in spending to $12.8 billion. All this visitor spending has contributed enormously to the state’s tax revenue, which helps to fund the government services that support our communities and infrastructure.
Another interesting bit of information that came from the report was the increase in Hawaii visitor arrivals from international markets in October. Spending and arrivals from international markets were up, and arrivals from the U.S. West led the charge in domestic arrivals with a 12.5 percent increase in October. The year-to-date statistics performed similarly, except for a decline in arrivals and spending from Canada.
To top it all off, analysts expect a strong holiday season to continue boosting these numbers. If this sounds like a healthy economic climate for your Maui real estate investment ambitions, give us a call or shoot us an email for any assistance you might need. We would be happy to put our expertise to work for you. Mahalo!
