A nearly 70 percent increase in Hawai'i time-share units over two years contributed to a doubling in visitor spending by time-share owners, according to data that time-share officials shared with state lawmakers Tuesday.

Spending by Hawai'i time-share owners jumped from $627 million in 2003 to $1.3 billion in 2005, according to studies commissioned by the American Resort Development Association in Hawai'i. State and county taxes generated by time-shares also doubled over the same period, from more than $90 million to $184-plus million. That's because of an almost 70 percent increase in time-share units, a rise in costs and real property tax rates, and higher occupancy, said former ARDA Hawai'i chairman Mitch Imanaka.

The time-share industry has about 8,200 units statewide and is projected to grow by another 5,600 units by 2010, Imanaka said. Hawai'i time-share resorts draw about 524,000 visitors annually, he said.

Imanaka and others spoke at a joint House and Senate briefing on the economic impacts of the time-share and cruise ship industries, whose growth in Hawai'i has drawn attention from lawmakers. Both time-share and cruise officials said their businesses are resilient to international and national disruptions and help diversify Hawai'i's No. 1 industry.

Hawai'i is characterized as the fastest-growing cruise destination in the country, largely because of NCL America, which added three U.S.-flagged cruise ships here since 2004.

The number of overall Hawai'i cruise ship passengers has grown from 240,800 in 2004 to about 398,000 last year, said Robert Kritzman, NCL America executive vice president and managing director of Hawai'i operations. Total cruise ship passengers, including those on NCL, are projected to reach 486,000 this year, he said.

Kritzman said NCL America's ships have been operating at full occupancy. But he also said the company isn't profitable yet because of the high start-up costs it incurred in launching three new ships in Hawai'i.

"The start-up costs ... have been very extensive," Kritzman said. "Like any business, you have start-up costs before you are actually receiving revenue, so you're going to lose money. And that has been the case as we put each of these ships into service. ... Now is the time for us to actually start getting a return on this substantial investment that we made. It's not to say that we won't be profitable, but I'm saying we haven't to date because of those high start-up costs."

Other challenges include harbor infrastructure improvements and worker retention, Kritzman said. At least 75 percent of the crew aboard NCL America's U.S.-flagged ships must be U.S. citizens, and the company has said it's been difficult finding American workers willing to work on a ship for months at a time. NCL said in August that only about 10 percent of its onboard staff is from Hawai'i.

Kritzman listed economic contributions by NCL America and the cruise industry, including: