Japanese arrivals rose 2.1 percent in July compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. However, overall visitor arrivals fell 2.5 percent to 709,702.

Total visitor days fell 3 percent, while visitor spending for July rose slightly — 0.6 percent — to $1.2 billion compared to the same month last year.

During the first seven months of the year visitor spending rose by 0.2 percent over the same period last year, state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert noted. And average daily visitor spending for the first seven months of 2007 increased 2.8 percent to $178 per person, she said.

Also for the first seven months of 2007, total visitor days declined 2.6 percent compared to year-to-date 2006, while total arrivals dipped by 1.7 percent. Among the top four visitor markets, visitors increased from the U.S West (1.5 percent) and Canada (1.1 percent), but arrivals declined from Japan (4.2 percent) and the U.S. East (3.9 percent) compared to the first seven months of 2006.