Hawaii’s expanding time-share industry generated more than $45.8 million in state and county tax revenue and added 1,445 jobs to Hawaii’s tourism economy during the year ending June 2014, according to an industry study released Monday.

For the year, overall time-share occupancy averaged 88.9 percent statewide, which was nearly 12 percentage points higher than the hotel occupancy of 77.5 percent attained during the same period, said Joe Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors, who completed the study for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

"The time-share industry is very healthy in Hawaii," Toy said. "I expect it will continue to expand."

Toy said consistency of time-share performance as well as the expansion of new product contributed to a 44 percent increase in time-share-related jobs, which employed 4,690 people statewide from July 2013 to June 2014.

"As inventory grows, jobs are going to grow and these last few years we’ve added lots of inventory," said Henry Perez, chairman of ARDA (American Resort Development Association) Hawaii, the voice for the state’s time-share industry.

The numbers add up for Hawaii developers as seen in the pace of hotel-to-time share conversions, partial time-share conversions and new time-share builds throughout the islands. Consumer demand as well as the backing of strong hotel brands since the late 1990s have continued to pump up Hawaii’s time-share industry, Toy said.

Perez said the industry has product under development or in construction on every major island but Kauai. Within two years, Oahu and Maui are expected to add 500 units each and there are 800 slated for Hawaii island, he said. Since each time-share unit is typically sold 51 times, Perez said that’s potentially another 91,800 time-share buyers coming into the market.

"This period of expansion is pretty close to the 2005-to-2008 time period," Perez said.

"The time-share market gets hot when the visitor industry gets hot."

Separately, Hilton Grand Vacations, the time-share division of Hilton Worldwide, announced Monday that it had begun sales of the Grand Islander, which is under construction at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort. Developed by Blackstone, the new 418-unit tower will be adjacent to the Tapa Tower along Kalia Road. The project is slated for completion in early 2017. Prices at the 37-story tower will start at $29,800 for a full week in a one-bedroom suite. A week in a two-bedroom suite retails for $43,600 and up.

"We’re experiencing high occupancy and continued strong demand for our time-share properties in Hawaii," said Bryan Klum, executive vice president Asia/Pacific, Hilton Grand Vacations. "For our members, Oahu remains a highly popular destination, and we believe the Grand Islander will provide an exceptional vacation experience for those owners."

In October, Capbridge Pacific LLC, a local subsidiary of Tokyo-based Capbridge Group, announced plans to construct a $300 million time-share project on the site of the former Aston Maui Lu in Kihei. Capbridge said it is collaborating with Hilton Grand Vacations to redevelop the 28-acre beachfront site into a time-share resort that will break ground in late 2015 and open in 2017. Sales should begin in early 2016. The redevelopment project is the Capbridge Group’s first venture in Hawaii and will be the first Hilton Grand Vacations property on Maui.

"There’s lots of motivation for people to buy here," Toy said. "Part of it is the ability to have a prepaid stay in Hawaii, but there’s also a very strong redemption value if you want to exchange elsewhere. That’s why there are even a lot of Hawaii residents that buy into time share."

While time shares are partially responsible for the loss of 8,000 hotel rooms between 2000 and now, Toy said the product has added a significant amount of its own inventory, which historically has brought balance to the accommodations industry.

"After 9/11, we saw hotel occupancy plummet to about 32 percent, but because of the prepaying nature of the time-share industry, their occupancy stayed stable at about 73 percent," he said.

While the number of time shares in Hawaii continues to soar, the industry is still relatively small. According to the study, only 10 percent of visitors to Hawaii during the four quarters ended in June stayed in a time share. However, time shares’ impact on overall tourism is likely much larger, since some 22.9 percent of the visitors who came to Hawaii during the same period stayed in a time share and another accommodation, including hotels, resort condominiums or individual vacation units.

"While not all time-share owners stay longer than their week, enough of them do to make an impact," Toy said.

According to Hawaii Tourism Authority data, time-share arrivals through October were flat with 641,194 of the visitors who came to Hawaii staying at least one night in a time-share and 493,202 of them staying exclusively in a time-share.