Hawaii economy rebounds faster than expected

The Hawaiian economy is rebounding faster than expected.  This is in large part to the better than expected numbers in the tourism industry.  The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism increased their forecasts for the tourism numbers.  They originally projected a 7.02% increase in visitor arrivals for 2010 compared with 2009, but now have increased that to 7.7% over last year.

The DBEDT all raised their forecast on visitor spending from 8.2% to 14.8%.  This huge increase is exciting local economists for the outlook for Hawaii.  It is a huge increase.  The DBEDT also raised their forecasted increase in the state’s domestic product to 1.4  percent.  In contrast 2009 saw a contraction in the state’s domestic product by 1.5%