Tourism in Hawaii Forecasted to Exceed 2006 Peak Level By 2013
Economy will grow 2% this year, state predicts
A Hawaii economist forecasts employment to rebound only after other sectors improve
By Kristen Consillio
STAR-ADVERTISER
The state expects visitor spending to jump 9.2 percent this year. “We are encouraged by the continued improvement in our economy, especially with respect to our construction industry,” DBEDT Director Richard Lim said yesterday in a statement.
Hawaii’s economy will grow slightly faster this year than previously expected, but job recovery won’t be realized until 2014, according to a state economist.
Boosted by a strong rebound in visitor spending and construction jobs, the state revised yesterday growth projections for overall gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic activity in Hawaii — to 2 percent this year, according to a quarterly report released yesterday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. That’s up from the 1.8 percent increase predicted in November.
IMPROVED OUTLOOK
Percentage changes forecast through 2013:
2011 2012 2013
Visitor arrivals 4.0 2.5 2.5
Visitor spending 9.2 5.6 5.4
Honolulu inflation 2.2 2.3 2.3
Wage and salary jobs 1.3 1.5 1.8
Personal income* 1.0 1.7 1.9
Gross domestic product* 2.0 2.1 2.4
* Adjusted for inflation
Source: State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
However, it will take three years for jobs to return to the 2007 peak level of about 631,000, Eugene Tian, acting state economist, said yesterday.
“Employment is still lagging the economic growth,” he said. “The job recovery will be coming later than the other indicators in the economy.”
The biggest upward revision among the various economic indicators was visitor spending, which DBEDT now predicts will grow 9.2 percent to $12.66 billion in 2011, as a result of a boost in tourists from higher-spending markets such as China and South Korea, as well as higher hotel room rates. DBEDT previously forecast an 8.4 percent increase.
Tourism will exceed the 2006 peak level of 7.6 million visitors by 2013, moving the economy from recovery to expansion, according to the report.
The job market also is improving, with the growth in payroll jobs revised upward to 1.3 percent this year from the 1.1 percent rise previously forecast, primarily due to new building projects.
The construction industry reversed 29 months of declines when it began to add jobs in October. The value of commercial and industrial building permits increased 32.5 percent last year, DBEDT Director Richard Lim said yesterday in a statement.
“We are encouraged by the continued improvement in our economy, especially with respect to our construction industry,” he said.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Borders Bankruptcy Won’t Affect Maui Stores
Borders bankruptcy won’t affect Maui stores
Two branches on Big Island, Kauai will be shut down
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
KAHULUI – Maui shoppers are pleased that the two Borders bookstores on the island would not be closing despite Borders’ parent company filing for bankruptcy protection Wednesday.
The Borders Books Music Movies & Cafe at Maui Marketplace and the Borders Express store at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center will remain open and are not affected by the bankruptcy, store officials said Wednesday morning.
Kevin Tanaka, the service manager at the Maui Marketplace store, said it was “business as usual,” and customers were waiting outside the store’s door before it opened, which is a common occurrence.
Only two stores in Hawaii will be closed, one in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island and the other in Lihue on Kauai, according to a bankruptcy filing.
The company said it will close about 200 of its 642 stores in the next few weeks. It cited cautious consumer spending, negotiations with vendors and a lack of liquidity as reasons for its troubles.
Kihei resident Stella Saadnia, who visits the Maui Marketplace Borders about once a week, said she likes the store’s variety of CDs, books and magazines and enjoys its cafe, where she can meet people and hang out.
“I like that it has a lot of different things,” she said outside the store Wednesday morning.
She also said it would be sad if the store were on the chopping block, noting that she still likes to read books despite the trend of people turning to electronics to read stories.
“I like the old-fashioned way,” she said.
Pukalani resident Robert Tomlinson said he feels the same way.
“I have a library at home,” he said outside the Maui Marketplace store. He added that he reads five books at a time and loves to give books away as gifts. Tomlinson said Borders has a good selection of Buddhist books as well as other religious books.
The Borders stores in Kahului and the Barnes & Nobles bookstore in Lahaina are the only two large major bookstore chains on the island.
Borders store officials said the Borders Express store at Piilani Village in Kihei closed about a month ago. Borders Express stores at the Whalers Village in Kaanapali and Lahaina Cannery Mall closed in January 2009.
Two branches on Big Island, Kauai will be shut down
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
KAHULUI – Maui shoppers are pleased that the two Borders bookstores on the island would not be closing despite Borders’ parent company filing for bankruptcy protection Wednesday.
The Borders Books Music Movies & Cafe at Maui Marketplace and the Borders Express store at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center will remain open and are not affected by the bankruptcy, store officials said Wednesday morning.
Kevin Tanaka, the service manager at the Maui Marketplace store, said it was “business as usual,” and customers were waiting outside the store’s door before it opened, which is a common occurrence.
Only two stores in Hawaii will be closed, one in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island and the other in Lihue on Kauai, according to a bankruptcy filing.
The company said it will close about 200 of its 642 stores in the next few weeks. It cited cautious consumer spending, negotiations with vendors and a lack of liquidity as reasons for its troubles.
Kihei resident Stella Saadnia, who visits the Maui Marketplace Borders about once a week, said she likes the store’s variety of CDs, books and magazines and enjoys its cafe, where she can meet people and hang out.
“I like that it has a lot of different things,” she said outside the store Wednesday morning.
She also said it would be sad if the store were on the chopping block, noting that she still likes to read books despite the trend of people turning to electronics to read stories.
“I like the old-fashioned way,” she said.
Pukalani resident Robert Tomlinson said he feels the same way.
“I have a library at home,” he said outside the Maui Marketplace store. He added that he reads five books at a time and loves to give books away as gifts. Tomlinson said Borders has a good selection of Buddhist books as well as other religious books.
The Borders stores in Kahului and the Barnes & Nobles bookstore in Lahaina are the only two large major bookstore chains on the island.
Borders store officials said the Borders Express store at Piilani Village in Kihei closed about a month ago. Borders Express stores at the Whalers Village in Kaanapali and Lahaina Cannery Mall closed in January 2009.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Enjoying Maui Deagle Style
Some times I get so caught up working I forget to take a moment to slow down and enjoy Hawaii for what it has to offer. So for all of those who are trapped in poor weather and are over worked, take a deep breath and take a mini vacation with me.
In other news, and in an effort to enjoy my dog’s company more, Deagle and I will be blogging pet related information such as pet friendly complex reviews, top picks, and quarantine processes.
Aloha from Maui
In other news, and in an effort to enjoy my dog’s company more, Deagle and I will be blogging pet related information such as pet friendly complex reviews, top picks, and quarantine processes.
Aloha from Maui
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Government of Singapore Offers to Buy Grand Wailea and Four Other Elite Resorts
Government of Singapore offers to buy Grand Wailea
Proposal is for 5 elite resorts
February 15, 2011 – By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
According to Bloomberg News, the government of Singapore is offering to buy the Grand Wailea and four other resorts that the Paulson & Co. group put into bankruptcy Feb. 1.
The reported offer of $1.5 billion is close to what the five elite resorts have been valued at in a complicated change of ownership that resulted from Morgan Stanley’s takeover of CNL Resorts.
Bloomberg said the offer was revealed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Monday.
The bidder is the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., a sovereign-wealth fund.
Sovereign-wealth funds are investment businesses run by governments that, like Singapore, enjoy large trade surpluses and need to find ways to use their foreign currency balances. The fund has $100 billion and, according to Bloomberg, is one of the creditors of the resorts.
An investment group led by the Paulson hedge fund managed to take over the Grand Wailea by foreclosing on the previous owner. But the five resorts were pledged as collateral for a billion-dollar loan, and while the new owners tried to work out a restructuring and extension of the debts, they did not do so by a Feb. 1 deadline.
Hence, the bankruptcy filing.
At Monday’s hearing, Judge Sean Lane approved an order allowing the resorts to use the cash collateral of lenders until Feb. 28. “Without access to the cash, the resorts won’t be able to operate and the ‘entire restructuring may be jeopardized,’ lawyers said in court papers,” according to Bloomberg.
Proposal is for 5 elite resorts
February 15, 2011 – By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News
According to Bloomberg News, the government of Singapore is offering to buy the Grand Wailea and four other resorts that the Paulson & Co. group put into bankruptcy Feb. 1.
The reported offer of $1.5 billion is close to what the five elite resorts have been valued at in a complicated change of ownership that resulted from Morgan Stanley’s takeover of CNL Resorts.
Bloomberg said the offer was revealed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Monday.
The bidder is the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., a sovereign-wealth fund.
Sovereign-wealth funds are investment businesses run by governments that, like Singapore, enjoy large trade surpluses and need to find ways to use their foreign currency balances. The fund has $100 billion and, according to Bloomberg, is one of the creditors of the resorts.
An investment group led by the Paulson hedge fund managed to take over the Grand Wailea by foreclosing on the previous owner. But the five resorts were pledged as collateral for a billion-dollar loan, and while the new owners tried to work out a restructuring and extension of the debts, they did not do so by a Feb. 1 deadline.
Hence, the bankruptcy filing.
At Monday’s hearing, Judge Sean Lane approved an order allowing the resorts to use the cash collateral of lenders until Feb. 28. “Without access to the cash, the resorts won’t be able to operate and the ‘entire restructuring may be jeopardized,’ lawyers said in court papers,” according to Bloomberg.
Friday, February 11, 2011
UHERO: The Number of Jobs Generated By Hawaii’s Economy is Poised to Grow
8,200 new jobs forecast for ’11
By Alan Yonan Jr.
Article from: Star-Advertiser
The number of jobs generated by Hawaii’s economy is poised to grow this year for the first time since 2007, helped by the launch of Oahu’s rail project and a modest acceleration of overall economic activity, a group of University of Hawaii researchers reported today.
Businesses are expected to add 8,200 positions this year, including 1,100 jobs related to the $5.5 billion mass transit line and other construction projects, according to a quarterly economic forecast from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. The increase in payroll jobs forecast by UHERO follows three years of declines in which job losses totaled more than 35,000.
UHERO had not included the impact of the rail project in previous economic forecasts because of an uncertain start date. That changed last month when the project got the green light from the Federal Transit Administration and Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The city said it expects to break ground on the project in March.
“Rail transit work will accelerate what would otherwise be a very anemic construction upturn, contributing to a gradual broadening and deepening of Hawaii’s economic recovery,” according to the report.
As a result of the rail project, UHERO revised its job growth estimate upward by 1,000 in 2011, 2,000 in 2012 and 3,500 in 2012, said Carl Bonham, the organization’s executive director.
“At the peak of rail spending in 2014 to 2015, the project brings down the unemployment rate by a half of a percentage point,” Bonham said.
In addition to the increase in construction jobs this year, UHERO is forecasting employment increases in the hospitality, health care and retail sectors. State and local government jobs are forecast to decline for the third year in a row, while federal positions are projected to shrink for the first time since the recession.
The broadest measure of Hawaii’s economic activity, state gross domestic product, is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent this year, up from 1 percent in 2010. State GDP had contracted by 0.1 percent in 2009 and 1.5 percent in 2008.
The strengthening of the broader economy will help take the pressure off the tourism industry, which carried much of the load in 2010, Bonham said. Visitor arrivals and spending will continue to grow this year but at a slower pace than last year, he added.
The forecast calls for visitor arrivals to grow by 3.8 percent this year after climbing by 8.2 percent in 2010. One of the reasons the increase appeared so pronounced last year was that arrivals in 2009 had been so weak.
“Visitor arrivals in 2011 will grow a bit slower. I wouldn’t be surprised if it even came in lower than our forecast. The wild card to some extent will be the impact from APEC,” Bonham said, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in November, which will bring heads of state from the 21 largest economies in the Asia-Pacific region to Hawaii.
Despite the acceleration of economic growth, inflation will remain subdued, according to the report. The consumer price index for Honolulu is forecast to fall slightly to 1.4 percent in 2011 from 1.7 percent in 2010.
Real personal income is forecast to grow to 2.2 percent this year from 0.2 percent in 2010.
By Alan Yonan Jr.
Article from: Star-Advertiser
The number of jobs generated by Hawaii’s economy is poised to grow this year for the first time since 2007, helped by the launch of Oahu’s rail project and a modest acceleration of overall economic activity, a group of University of Hawaii researchers reported today.
Businesses are expected to add 8,200 positions this year, including 1,100 jobs related to the $5.5 billion mass transit line and other construction projects, according to a quarterly economic forecast from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. The increase in payroll jobs forecast by UHERO follows three years of declines in which job losses totaled more than 35,000.
UHERO had not included the impact of the rail project in previous economic forecasts because of an uncertain start date. That changed last month when the project got the green light from the Federal Transit Administration and Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The city said it expects to break ground on the project in March.
“Rail transit work will accelerate what would otherwise be a very anemic construction upturn, contributing to a gradual broadening and deepening of Hawaii’s economic recovery,” according to the report.
As a result of the rail project, UHERO revised its job growth estimate upward by 1,000 in 2011, 2,000 in 2012 and 3,500 in 2012, said Carl Bonham, the organization’s executive director.
“At the peak of rail spending in 2014 to 2015, the project brings down the unemployment rate by a half of a percentage point,” Bonham said.
In addition to the increase in construction jobs this year, UHERO is forecasting employment increases in the hospitality, health care and retail sectors. State and local government jobs are forecast to decline for the third year in a row, while federal positions are projected to shrink for the first time since the recession.
The broadest measure of Hawaii’s economic activity, state gross domestic product, is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent this year, up from 1 percent in 2010. State GDP had contracted by 0.1 percent in 2009 and 1.5 percent in 2008.
The strengthening of the broader economy will help take the pressure off the tourism industry, which carried much of the load in 2010, Bonham said. Visitor arrivals and spending will continue to grow this year but at a slower pace than last year, he added.
The forecast calls for visitor arrivals to grow by 3.8 percent this year after climbing by 8.2 percent in 2010. One of the reasons the increase appeared so pronounced last year was that arrivals in 2009 had been so weak.
“Visitor arrivals in 2011 will grow a bit slower. I wouldn’t be surprised if it even came in lower than our forecast. The wild card to some extent will be the impact from APEC,” Bonham said, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in November, which will bring heads of state from the 21 largest economies in the Asia-Pacific region to Hawaii.
Despite the acceleration of economic growth, inflation will remain subdued, according to the report. The consumer price index for Honolulu is forecast to fall slightly to 1.4 percent in 2011 from 1.7 percent in 2010.
Real personal income is forecast to grow to 2.2 percent this year from 0.2 percent in 2010.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Business / In Brief • Feb. 9, 2011
* Hawaii
Excerpts from: Maui News
Oahu single-family home sales increase
HONOLULU – Oahu home sales increased in January while prices fell slightly compared to a year ago, the Honolulu Board of Realtors reported Tuesday.
There were 199 single-family homes sold during the month, up 11.2 percent from January 2010. There were also 265 condo units sold during the month, an increase of 9.5 percent, the board said.
The median price of a single-family home dipped 4.2 percent from $595,000 to $570,000, while condos fell 2.7 percent to $291,000.
Brian Benton, immediate past president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said he’s seeing a shift in sales from condos to single-family homes, which is a good indicator of returning consumer confidence.
Single-family homes were listed for an average of 38 days, down from 43 days a year ago. However, condos are taking longer to sell, with an average listing period of 49 days, up considerably from 36 days in January 2010.
*****
Hawaii enrolls more kids for insurance
HONOLULU – The federal government is reporting that Hawaii has one of the sharpest increases in children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Hawaii child enrollees rose nearly 15 percent between the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, the fifth-highest increase in the nation.
That represents a jump of 18,000 additional children signed up for the CHIP and Medicaid programs.
In all, nearly 142,000 children were enrolled in either of the programs in 2010.
Only Alabama, Montana, Oregon and North Carolina had larger yearly increases.
The enrollment data were included in the annual report of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, which is designed to give states more opportunities to improve program access.
Excerpts from: Maui News
Oahu single-family home sales increase
HONOLULU – Oahu home sales increased in January while prices fell slightly compared to a year ago, the Honolulu Board of Realtors reported Tuesday.
There were 199 single-family homes sold during the month, up 11.2 percent from January 2010. There were also 265 condo units sold during the month, an increase of 9.5 percent, the board said.
The median price of a single-family home dipped 4.2 percent from $595,000 to $570,000, while condos fell 2.7 percent to $291,000.
Brian Benton, immediate past president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said he’s seeing a shift in sales from condos to single-family homes, which is a good indicator of returning consumer confidence.
Single-family homes were listed for an average of 38 days, down from 43 days a year ago. However, condos are taking longer to sell, with an average listing period of 49 days, up considerably from 36 days in January 2010.
*****
Hawaii enrolls more kids for insurance
HONOLULU – The federal government is reporting that Hawaii has one of the sharpest increases in children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Hawaii child enrollees rose nearly 15 percent between the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, the fifth-highest increase in the nation.
That represents a jump of 18,000 additional children signed up for the CHIP and Medicaid programs.
In all, nearly 142,000 children were enrolled in either of the programs in 2010.
Only Alabama, Montana, Oregon and North Carolina had larger yearly increases.
The enrollment data were included in the annual report of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, which is designed to give states more opportunities to improve program access.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
This Just In...
New Lower Price! Dropped by $50k
NOW $900,000
3150 Wailea Alanui Drive, # 3801
Contact Clint Hansen, Realtor (S) @ 808.280.2764
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