A sharp increase in the number of new time-share units helped boost Hawai'i's overall inventory of visitor accommodations last year, according to a report released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The state's 2007 Visitor Plant Inventory showed that overall visitor accommodations grew by 1.3 percent over the previous year to 73,220 units. The report is based on a survey of visitor units as of May 2007.

The report showed a continuation of the shift in conventional hotel rooms to nontraditional accommodations, such as individual vacation units and time shares.

The largest single category — hotel rooms — fell 1.7 percent to 42,585 units. At the same time, a combination of condominium hotel rooms and individual vacation units rose 4.3 percent to 20,672.

Both "condotel" rooms and individual vacation units are individually owned. However, condotel projects include front-desk operations, while IVUs do not.

Registered time-share units totaled 7,997, up 16.2 percent.

The overall increase in visitor accommodations was the largest since a 2.3 percent rise in 2004. There was no change in accommodations in 2006 and a 0.2 percent rise in 2005.

The DBEDT report also highlighted a shift toward more high-end accommodations.

The category for luxury accommodation units — those with rates of more than $500 a night — saw its share of total statewide units grow 14.5 percentage points to 25.6 percent.

All other classifications of accommodations shrank.

Visitor units classified as budget, with rack rates of up to $100 a night, made up 9 percent of the inventory, down from 12.3 percent in 2006. Standard rooms, with rates from $101 to $250, fell to 32.2 percent from 39.5 percent. Deluxe rooms, with rates from $251 to $500, fell to 33.1 percent from 37.1 percent.

Kaua'i saw the largest increase in visitor units, with 5.2 percent growth over 2006, followed by Maui, which was up 2.6 percent. The Big Island's accommodation inventory rose 2.1 percent. O'ahu, which has the largest share of accommodations, saw a 0.1 percent decrease to 33,588 units.