State and Maui Tourism Up in May


May 25, 2012

There’s good news for the Maui visitor industry, and for the state as a whole. Occupancy and prices were both up during the week ending on May 12th. Yes, these numbers are calculated on a weekly basis, rather than monthly, such as with Maui real estate statistics. After all, the visitor industry can fluctuate much more quickly.

The data was provided by Hospitality Advisors LLC and Smith Travel Research. According to their report, the average rate of a Hawaii hotel room rose by 7.6 percent compared to the same week last year, and occupancy rose by 7.1 percent. The average room rate came out at $191.30, while the occupancy rate was 71.5 percent.

Oahu occupancy was the highest among the islands at 78.2 percent, but their increase in occupancy was only 5.9. Kauai, on the other hand saw the biggest occupancy jump with a 17.1 percent increase to 70.6 percent occupancy. Keep in mind that Kauai is a very small island, meaning even small occupancy changes will often look extreme when you look at the percentage change. The Big Island gained 4.2 percent to end at only a 53.1 percent occupancy.

Now that you know how the other islands did, you’ll know how Maui is performing comparatively. We had a 68.8 percent occupancy, which was a 7.7 percent increase. That was a bigger improvement than Oahu or the Big Island experienced. Also, Maui’s average room rates are higher than all the other islands. We ended at $225.03, which was a 2.7 percent gain.

Oahu room rates went up by 10.3 percent to $177.76, Kauai room rates went up by 8.8 percent to $208.94, and the Big Island room rates increased by 4.5 percent to $175.69.

Aside from the particulars of how each island is performing as a vacation destination, the overall trend indicates growth and financial gain for the state of Hawaii, and for our lovely island of Maui. We bring this information to you because some of those who are thinking about buying a home on Maui are interested in how the economy is performing, and the visitor industry comprises an enormous portion of our economy. When tourism thrives financially, so do we.



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