More Maui Economic News

Aloha Kakou:

Paul Brewbaker is the chief economist for Bank of Hawaii. He is probably the most quoted individual regarding what's happening with our state economy. His take is that the economy here really is not that bad (remember, he's talking about the big picture!) and he looks for a recovery by the end of 2009. Here's the article from today's Maui News:
http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/507771.html?nav=10

While representing a relatively small portion of Maui's overall vacation lodging, timeshare properties are doing much better than the average hotel. Of course, when you have units that have 52 or so owners, each of whom is paying a monthly mortgage and a hefty maintenance fee, you're bound to have many of them show up for their weeks just to get a return on their "investment". Studies have shown that timeshare owners spend less while they're here than does the average visitor. Also, timeshare owners are less likely to be affected by the fluctuations in airfare as they have already paid for the lodging portion of their vacation and, consequently, are willing to pay a little more for their transportation. More information on current timeshare occupancies is here:
http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/507431.html?nav=8