Visitor arrivals and spending posted double-digit gains in February — a month that will likely be recorded as one of Hawaii’s best for tourism performance.

Hawaii’s February visitor count rose to 778,571, a roughly 10 percent gain from February 2017. The percentage growth in arrivals corresponded to a more than 10 percent rise in trans-Pacific air seats and a more than 8 percent gain in cruise ship passengers.

There were 252,965 visitors in Hawaii on any given day in February, which posted a nearly 9 percent gain in daily visitor census from February 2017.

Visitor spending rose nearly 13 percent year-over-year to $1.5 billion. Daily visitor spending increased almost 4 percent year-over-year to $215.

On a per day basis, visitor spending in February was almost as good as January, which, at $1.69 billion, was the highest month for visitor spending in Hawaii’s history. Total visitor spending for February, a 28-day month, was better than every month in 2017 except January, July, and December, all peak travel months.

Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii island, Molokai and Lanai achieved year-over-year gains in both visitor spending and arrivals in February. Visitor arrivals rose from every major source market, including the U.S. West, the U.S. East, Japan, Canada, cruise ships and the category called all others, which includes international travelers from every market but Japan and Canada. Visitor spending rose from all source markets, except cruise ships.

Some 51,646 visitors came for meetings, conventions and incentives (MCI) in February, which posted a nearly 8 percent improvement over the same period a year ago.

February’s results brought the year-to-date arrivals count to nearly 1.6 million, a nearly 8 percent rise from the same period last year. Visitor spending for the first two months of 2018 rose nearly 9 percent year-over-year to $3.2 billion. Through February 2018, daily visitor spending rose to $212, a gain of more than 2 percent from the same period in 2017.