Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism

Office of Planning and Sustainable Development — DBEDT is proud to announce that Hawaii has become the nation’s first statewide economic development district (EDD), a designation approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.

DBEDT's Creative Industries Division Hawaii today released a request for proposals toward the development of small, mid-sized and microbudget film and creative media projects.

According to preliminary statistics from DBEDT, there were 770,940 visitors to the Hawaiian Islands in November 2024, growth of 5.3 percent compared to the same month last year.

DBEDT today announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 2.9 percent, the same for the sixth consecutive month.

Hawaii residents are invited to hone high-demand creative industry skills with two production courses set for Spring 2025, offered through the University of Hawaii Community Colleges' Good Jobs Hawaii initiative in collaboration with DBEDT's Creative Industries Division.