Visitor arrivals and spending climbed for the third month in a row in May due largely to gains from Hawaii’s domestic market as well as overall air seats, according to preliminary statistics released on Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Total May arrivals rose 9.3 percent to 709,671 visitors, while nominal spending grew 10.4 percent to $1.2 billion.

“Coming off of three record-breaking years for Hawai‘i’s visitor industry, the steady growth in expenditures is a positive sign that this year will be another successful one for tourism,” said George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO.

Led by the Pacific and Mountain regions, monthly arrivals from Hawaii’s core market, the U.S. West, grew 11.8 percent to 295,550 visitors. A 19.9 percent growth rate in spending from these visitors brought in $447.4 million in monthly visitor spending. 

In May, U.S. West visitors filled more hotel rooms and more bed and breakfast and non-traditional accommodations. While a 13.4 percent increase in hotel use among these visitors contributed to higher daily spending in lodging costs, U.S. West visitors in general spent more each day in the entertainment and food and beverage categories. As many as 146,337 U.S. West visitors stayed in hotels as compared to 2,968 who stayed in a bed and breakfast and 5,226 who stayed in a non-traditional rental. 

Likewise, overall arrivals from Hawaii’s second largest market, the U.S. East, increased 6.5 percent to 153,418 visitors. While arrivals rose from nearly all regions, the largest growth was from the East North Central and West South Central regions. U.S. East visitor spending also rose to $302.3 million, a 7.5 percent gain from May of 2014. 

May arrivals from Japan, Hawaii’s third largest visitor market, grew 3.6 percent to 112,486, but spending from the market was still down. Japanese visitors, who have been struggling with lagging economy and unfavorable exchange rates, only spent $167.8 million in May, a 3.1 percent decline from May of 2014. 

The challenges were also apparent in the 24.3 percent drop in honeymooners from Japan and the 33.7 percent drop in visitors from Japan who came to get married. Since Japan is such an important nuptial market, the drops lead to a 13.2 percent overall drop in honeymooners and a 19.8 percent reduction in those coming to get married. 

“While the depreciating Japanese yen and drop in outbound travel from Japan has been affecting our largest international market, the recent announcement of pre-clearance at Narita Airport will help to boost travel from the market to the neighbor islands,” Szigeti said. “Coupled with Governor Ige’s recent trip to Japan to meet with the Prime Minister and key tourism stakeholders, we look forward to seeing growth from this mature market.”

While there are typically fewer Canadian arrivals in May than other months, this market contracted even more this May than it did at the same time last year. Canadian arrivals fell to 26,459 visitors in May, which resulted in an 8.7 percent decline in visitor spending. This May, Canadian visitors only brought in $45.5 million in visitor spending. 

Arrivals from the category all other markets, which includes visitors from Oceania, Europe, Latin American and Asian countries outside of Japan, have smaller individual footprints. However, altogether they rose 15.9 percent to 110,671 and their combined expenditures climbed 11.9 percent to $238.3 million. 

The monthly results were also helped by a 10 percent increase in meetings, conventions and incentives travelers. These 40, 516 visitors helped fill hotel rooms creating a better base of business for Hawaii’s visitor industry. 

“We anticipate the MCI market will continue to grow with the upcoming Lions Club International Convention… that will bring more than 20,000 attendees and their families to the state,” Szigeti said. 

Hawaii’s cruise ship market is still trending downward for the year; however, six out-of-state cruise ships with 11,087 visitors came in May 2015, up 57.6 percent from a year ago when 7,034 visitors arrived on four ships. 

Air seats to Hawaii in May also rose 8.8 percent from the year-ago month. Gains from in seats from North America offset fewer seats from Japan and other Asian nations. 

May results brought the five-month tally to 3.5 million visitors, a gain of 4.1 percent from the same period in 2014. Year –to-date visitor spending through May, also rose 2 percent year-over-year to $6.2 billion. 

“Year-to-date, visitor spending has contributed $121 million more into the state’s economy compared to last year, and state tax revenue reached $660 million, up 2 percent year-over-year,” Szigeti said.