Kauai’s economy
forecast to continue
growing next year
Both tourism and job
Star-Bulletin staff
creation were robust in
the first half of 1999Kauai's economy will continue to grow next year, after increases of 6.5 percent in tourist arrivals and 3.7 percent in jobs in the first half of 1999, according to a local economist.
Leroy Laney, First Hawaiian Bank's economic consultant and now a professor of economics at Hawaii Pacific University, presented his outlook at the bank's 25th annual Kauai business outlook forum yesterday in Princeville.
He said this year's high level of growth may not be sustained, "but growth at around the 2-3 percent range is a respectable goal."
Laney said the job gain in the first half of this year followed a healthy gain of 2.7 percent in 1998.
"In both 1998 and so far in 1999, Kauai has outperformed all other counties and the state as a whole in job creation," said Laney, a former chief economist at First Hawaiian.
The neighbor islands in general are showing stronger economic growth than Oahu and Kauai "leads the pack," he said. Most of Kauai's new jobs this year were in the construction, hotel and retailing sectors.
Strong travel levels from the mainland have boosted Kauai's tourist numbers and the island is far less dependent on the Asia-Pacific markets than other islands, making it less affected than others by the drop in Japanese tourists, Laney said.
Like the rest of the state, Kauai should benefit from high-tech advances, he said.
