Overall, 607,946 visitors came in July, down slightly from 608,284 in July 2002, according to figures released today by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Helping the state maintain traffic during the month was a 5 percent rise in domestic visitors, with 462,776 arriving by air, compared with 440,737 last year, the previous July high.

The strong Mainland market partially offset a continued drop in Japanese arrivals, which fell nearly 21 percent in July over the previous year. Visitor surveys show fewer high-spending Japanese visiting Hawai'i, and less time spent here than a year ago.

However, the decline was more than offset by longer stays by Mainland visitors. Total visitor days in July — considered a good gauge of the tourism industry’s economic contribution — rose 6.9 percent.

The numbers illustrate how global crises and other events are making the Islands an increasingly attractive, safe destination for domestic travelers even as they contribute to wariness in foreign tourists.

"This year, more than 70 percent of our total visitors will come through the U.S. Mainland, a phenomenon that has not been seen in 15 years," said Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison. "Since domestic visitors tend to stay longer in the Islands, this may have a very positive impact on our hotel industry."

For the year to date through July, total visitor arrivals — 3,668,066 — were down 1.3 percent from the first seven months of 2002, a period when the travel industry was hurt by heightened fears of terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. That’s a slight improvement over year-to-date visitors numbers through June, which were down 1.5 percent from the first half of 2002.

On O'ahu, year-to-date visitor arrivals fell 6.7 percent, while Big Island arrivals fell 0.5 percent. Kaua'i suffered a 1 percent decline. Meanwhile, visitor arrivals on three islands increased: Maui saw an increase of 5.4 percent, Moloka'i was up 8.7 percent, and Lana'i arrivals grew 2.2 percent.

Although the number of visitors fell, visitors stayed longer, bringing the average length of stay to 9.92 days, a 7.2 percent increase from the year-ago period.