Hawaii’s timeshare industry’s occupancy was just above flat in 2017 despite the addition of new timeshare inventory, according to data released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Statewide timeshare occupancy grew to 89.5 percent in 2017 — a 0.2 percentage point increase from 2016. Some 839,024 timeshare visitors came to Hawaii in 2017, a 5.1 percent increase over 2016.

HTA’s timeshare findings were prepared by Kloninger & Sims Consulting LLC, who surveyed 52 individual timeshare properties representing just over 81 percent of registered timeshare units statewide. The timeshare properties surveyed generated $87.1 million in state and county taxes in 2017, with real property taxes encompassing 45.6 percent of their total taxes.

Jennifer Chun, HTA tourism research director, said in a statement, “Timeshare properties continue to be a healthy and reliable segment of Hawaii’s tourism industry, with the rate of occupancy for 2017 remaining similar to 2016 even though more total units were added statewide.”

The bulk of visitors to Hawaii in 2017 stayed in hotels, but the timeshare industry accounted for 9.1 percent of all Hawaii visitor arrivals in 2017. It’s a coveted piece of business since timeshare visitors prepay for their vacations ensuring that they are more resilient travelers, who typically put a solid base of business on the books.

A reason that Hawaii timeshares didn’t yield more robust results is that timeshare occupancy rates statewide decreased overall in the last three quarters of 2017 when new units entered the market. Two new timeshare properties opened on Oahu and Maui, and units were added to an existing Hawaii island timeshare.

“The market absorbed the increase in supply of timeshare units, demonstrating consumer demand for an investment in future vacations to Hawaii,” Chun said.