"These impressive visitor statistics are a great way to start 2005 and illustrate the tremendous resurgence of our visitor industry which began in January 2003," said state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert. "Contributing to the exceptional growth in arrivals are strong increases in air seat capacity to the state," she said.

Domestic air seats rose 11.3 percent while international air seats grew 15 percent, Wienert said.

Tourism officials are expecting visitor arrivals to reach a new high this year. The state saw about 6.91 million visitors last year, just 40,000 shy of the record 6.95 million who arrived in 2000. DBEDT is forecasting 7.14 million visitors in 2005.

The growth in the state's overall visitor arrivals in January resulted from double-digit increases in both Mainland and international arrivals. Mainland arrivals grew by 10.7 percent over January last year, while international arrivals surged 26.6 percent.

The average length of stay dropped by 1.7 percent but the growth in arrivals pushed up visitor days by 14 percent.

All islands saw more visitors this past January over January 2004. The Big Island had the biggest increase at 32.7 percent, followed by O'ahu (17.6 percent), Moloka'i (10.9 percent), Kaua'i (8.6 percent), Maui (5.8 percent) and Lana'i (1.3 percent).

Other report highlights:

• Japanese arrivals increased by 19.1 percent but the number of Canadian visitors fell by 11.1 percent.

• More visitors came here for vacation, to honeymoon, visit friends or relatives and for meetings, conventions and incentives compared to the previous January. Fewer visited Hawai'i to get married or attend school.

• About 22,555 out-of-state visitors toured the Islands in January on cruise ships, including two Hawai'i-ported ships and six out-of-state cruise ships. That's a 46.6 percent increase compared to January 2004, when seven out-of-state cruise ships and one Hawai'i-based ship carried 15,383 visitors.