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Interesting I'd have thought tourism is the economic engine of Hawaii.

brian_cloutier 5y ago
Most important questions have multi-causal answers, without additional information I would guess that both "tourism is the economic engine" and "military bases are the economic engine" are likely to be incorrect. Hawaiian GDP seems to have dropped ~8% in 2020 [1] where tourism spending plummeted let's say 50% [2]. I would expect that Hawaiian military payroll has stayed roughly fixed during the pandemic. This seems to put an upper bound on tourism at ~20% GDP. Quite high! You would not want to lose it, but not the sole engine of economic success. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187859/gdp-of-the-us-federal-state-of-hawaii-since-1997/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/187859/gdp-of-the-us-fed... [2]: https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/news-releases/2021/hawaii-visitor-statistics-released-for-june-2021/ https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/news-releases/20...
- hammock 5y ago
  I like the math, just to point out that you are perhaps forgetting transfer payments, government aid etc since the pandemic so tourism may be higher than 20%
- bobthepanda 5y ago
  From Wikipedia: > Since statehood in 1959, tourism has been the largest industry, contributing 24.3% of the gross state product (GSP) in 1997, despite efforts to diversify... In 2009, the United States military spent US$12.2 billion in Hawaii, accounting for 18% of spending in the state for that year. 75,000 United States Department of Defense personnel live in Hawaii.
drjasonharrison 5y ago
If anyone has a breakdown of this that fits into these (or other) nice categories please share. Based on my searches: (1) Tourism (this includes real estate rentals, entertainment, travel) (2) Government (defense) (3) Ocean surface transportation
hindsightbias 5y ago
Take out the rich non-natives and federal employees/contractors and Hawaii is a poor state. The per capita income does not account for the very high cost of living there. Tourist dollars tend towards maintaining that industry and the state just doesn’t have the funds to support large infrastructure projects without heavy federal funding (water, power, ports, roads, airports, IT backbone). Many of islands run on shoestring budgets.
- meristohm 5y ago
  When I visited, I learned that one of the islands is powered by bunker fuel (what ships use, and perhaps the dirtiest widely-used hydrocarbon-based fuels).

Most important questions have multi-causal answers, without additional information I would guess that both "tourism is the economic engine" and "military bases are the economic engine" are likely to be incorrect. Hawaiian GDP seems to have dropped ~8% in 2020 [1] where tourism spending plummeted let's say 50% [2]. I would expect that Hawaiian military payroll has stayed roughly fixed during the pandemic. This seems to put an upper bound on tourism at ~20% GDP. Quite high! You would not want to lose it, but not the sole engine of economic success. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187859/gdp-of-the-us-federal-state-of-hawaii-since-1997/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/187859/gdp-of-the-us-fed... [2]: https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/news-releases/2021/hawaii-visitor-statistics-released-for-june-2021/ https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/news-releases/20...

hammock 5y ago
I like the math, just to point out that you are perhaps forgetting transfer payments, government aid etc since the pandemic so tourism may be higher than 20%
bobthepanda 5y ago
From Wikipedia: > Since statehood in 1959, tourism has been the largest industry, contributing 24.3% of the gross state product (GSP) in 1997, despite efforts to diversify... In 2009, the United States military spent US$12.2 billion in Hawaii, accounting for 18% of spending in the state for that year. 75,000 United States Department of Defense personnel live in Hawaii.

drjasonharrison 5y ago

If anyone has a breakdown of this that fits into these (or other) nice categories please share. Based on my searches: (1) Tourism (this includes real estate rentals, entertainment, travel) (2) Government (defense) (3) Ocean surface transportation

hindsightbias 5y ago

Take out the rich non-natives and federal employees/contractors and Hawaii is a poor state. The per capita income does not account for the very high cost of living there. Tourist dollars tend towards maintaining that industry and the state just doesn’t have the funds to support large infrastructure projects without heavy federal funding (water, power, ports, roads, airports, IT backbone). Many of islands run on shoestring budgets.

meristohm 5y ago
When I visited, I learned that one of the islands is powered by bunker fuel (what ships use, and perhaps the dirtiest widely-used hydrocarbon-based fuels).