The state’s top industry got some good news with today’s announcement that September visitor arrivals rose by 7.2 percent to 494,376 visitors. It was the third monthly rise in visitor arrivals in a row.

Spending remained down — but by 3 percent — compared to earlier double-digit declines by penny-pinching tourists, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
The number of visitor days for September 2009 rose 4.8 percent from the same month last year, the state reported. And the average length of stay by these visitors was 8.89 days, compared to 9.10 days in September 2008.
Despite the increases in arrivals, total visitor expenditure for September 2009 declined due to lower average daily spending by these visitors ($171 per person, down from $186 per person in September 2008).
Total expenditure by air visitors in the month of September 2009 was $737.1 million, a drop of $22.7 million or 3 percent compared to last September.
Growth in arrivals for September 2009 appeared particularly positive compared to September 2008 which saw a 19.5 percent decline in visitors. Last year’s decline was partially due to an early Labor Day which fell on September 1 as visitors arriving for the holiday weekend were counted in August.
The number of visitors who came for conventions was up 64.7 percent driven by visitors who arrived in September to attend the American Dental Association’s 150th Annual Convention. This event ran from September 30 through October 7th and brought close to 24,000 delegates to the islands.
The number of visitors from the U.S. West rose for the fifth consecutive month, up 10.1 percent from last September to 194,369 visitors.
Air arrivals from U.S. East grew 6.9 percent to 107,996 visitors, the first increase since February 2008 (+3.7%). Growth in arrivals from the West South Central region (+28.1%), specifically Houston (47%) and Dallas (20.9%), was very strong. The West North Central (+7.1%), Mountain (+6.2%), Mid Atlantic (+4.9%), East North Central (+4%) and South Atlantic (+1.5%) regions also increased compared to September 2008.
Three Japanese national holidays combined with a weekend, created a Silver Week holiday period that boosted Japanese air arrivals by 16.7 percent to 110,634 visitors. This was the first double digit growth in Japanese arrivals since March 2005 (+11.6%).
Arrivals by air from Canada dropped slightly by 0.8 percent compared to September 2008.