Hawaii tourism was upgraded by local economists saying that visitor arrivals would increase by 6.5% up by 2.1% meaning visitor arrivals would exceed 7.7 million by the end of the year.  The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s (DBEDT) latest report predicts economic growth for Hawaii at 2.2% this year with largest gains to […]

Bank of Hawaii says Hawaii economy is improving.  In their earnings release earlier this week, they view the local economy as being stable with a nice jump in tourism especially in the past couple of months.   Their earnings release included the statement: “For the first two months of 2012, total visitor arrivals increased by 6.7% […]

Hawaii is among top desired Summer destination trips this year.  Hawaii is number 2 on a list of places American families want to go on Summer vacation.  The survey was compiled by AAA Travel.  Disney World in Orlando Florida came in number one.  Others destinations on the list included London, Rome, and Disneyland in Anaheim […]

Getting a mortgage has not been this easy since the economic melt down!  Do you want to put just 3.5% down on a home?  Yes, it is possible even if you have a credit score as low as 580 through an FHA loan program.  For a purchase price of $793,750 or less, you can get […]

Morgan Stanley(MS) published an analyst report on American Assets Trust (AAT) about their investor day last week saying that both retail and tourism in Hawaii has strongly improved.  American Assets Trust which owns Waikele (retail), Waikiki Beach Walk (Retail and Hotel) and the Shops at Kalakaua, has really increased revenue in 2011 and are taking […]

Hawaii’s largest wind farm will be coming to Oahu’s North Shore.  The joint project between Hawaiian electric (HECO) and Boston-based First Wind will put a wind farm about 5 miles north of Haleiwa in Kawailoa on land owned by Kamehameha schools.  The electricity produced by the wind farm will be slightly more expensive than the […]

Rumors are circulating that Billionaire David Murdock will put up for sale his interest in the island of Lanai.  Currently he owns approximately 98% of the island.  Word is that he opposes a plan to build a large wind farm there.  The project called Big Wind would create a large wind farm and use under […]

Hawaii’s unemployment declined again in April from 6.3% to 6.1% says the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.  Comparing this to the national number at 9% and Hawaii looks as if it is doing quite well.  Honolulu county came in at an ultra low of 4.6% while the Big Island had the worst number […]

Occupancy rates for all of Hawaii hotels stood at 67% down only 1% from this week last year.  This is a remarkable feat considering that Japanese arrivals have been down 17 to 25% since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.  Even better news is that room rates actually rose from this time last year.  Oahu occupancy […]

Visitor arrivals to Hawaii were up 4.2% in March and unexpectedly great number considering Japanese visitor arrivals from Japan declined 17.9%.  The industry was getting ready for a phenomenal March when the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami occurred on March 11th.   Visitor arrivals from Canada were up over 34% many were escaping wintry weather to […]