According to the latest preliminary report from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, November saw increases in visitor arrivals and spending, compared to the same month last year. In an economy driven by the visitor industry, this kind of data often factors into choices made by investors in both commercial and residential Maui real estate.
Lately, the data has been encouraging. For example, the report found a 2.7 percent increase in visitor spending on Maui for a total of $359.4 million in November, 2017. Arrivals were up by 9.3 percent for a total of 215,266, and visitor days rose by 5.8 percent that month. As for the major markets, visitors from Canada were up 16.4 percent, US East by 10.1 percent, US West by 7.5 percent, and Japan by 5.6 percent, so healthy growth all around.
More importantly, the year-to-date statistics revealed a 4 percent increase in visitor spending on Maui for a total of $4.27 billion, while arrivals are up 3.7 percent to 2,483,686 compared to the first 11 months of 2016. That’s where we see the more significant growth trends.
As for the year-to-date numbers for Hawaii as a whole, spending was up 6.6 percent to $15.15 billion, while arrivals were up 4.9 percent to 8,502,545, and average daily spending rose by 1.8 percent to $200 per person. Both spending and arrivals were up from the US West, the US East, Japan, and Canada.
According to Hawaii Tourism Authority president and CEO George D. Szigeti, this all translates to, “an extraordinary year for Hawaii’s tourism industry.” He also shared optimism about the coming year. So, if you’ve been contemplating a Maui real estate purchase, maybe this will be the year to make it happen. If you need our assistance with your search or purchase, you’ll find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo!
