Guam - Following recent reports showing tourism numbers increased by over 10 percent along with business activity up by 8 percent from this time last year, the Guam Chamber of Commerce held a seminar discussing the island's economic outlook.

According to panel speaker chief economist Gary Hiles, the recent figures are only encouraging as we enter the holiday season and the new year. He told KUAM News, "The revenues for the Government of Guam, the August numbers are out and are a little above projections and above last year's revenues, so in some ways some things are going pretty well but there's also a lot of potential risk to the economy."

And while its good now, he does add however that several factors such as federal sequestration, issues related to the buildup, fuel prices and local issues regarding the payment of tax refunds could put the general fund in more of a squeeze.