Hawaii’s visitor industry posted double-digit gains in February in both visitor arrivals and spending — a feat that hadn’t been achieved since November 2012.

Arrivals last month rose to 778,571, a roughly 10 percent gain from February 2017, according to preliminary statistics released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. 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.

“What a month. The fourth quarter of 2017 has certainly carried over to January and February,” said Keith Vieira, principal at KV and Associates Hospitality Consulting LLC.

Jennifer Chun, HTA director of Tourism Research, said nearly all of the markets were up for expenditures and arrivals in February.

“Given the increase in flights for 2018, there is opportunity for this trend to continue,” Chun said.

February’s results helped put Hawaii tourism ahead of the state’s annual forecast, which anticipates more than 9.6 million visitors will come to Hawaii and spend more than $17.5 billion this year. Through February, arrivals were trending more than 4 percent higher than the state forecast, and spending was nearly 6 percent ahead, she said.

HTA President and CEO George Szigeti said tourism also generated $375 million in state tax revenue, which put Hawaii more than $29 million ahead of tax collections during the first two months of last year.

Vieira attributes February’s strong growth to a stable U.S. economy, significant air seat gains and Hawaii’s strong brand image.

Chun said the U.S. East and Japan both had double-digit growth in spending, up more than 14 percent and nearly 16 percent, respectively. Growth in domestic air seats bolstered arrivals from Hawaii’s core U.S. West market, which was up nearly 13 percent, and the U.S. East market, which rose more than 10 percent.

China and Korea also did well in February, Chun said.

“China arrivals likely benefited from the Lunar New Year in February; in 2017, Lunar New Year was celebrated in January. Korea arrivals were supported by increased air seats from Asiana Airlines and Korean Airlines,” she said.

All of the visitor traffic helped bolster Hawaii’s average daily visitor census to 252,965 visitors on any given day in February, which posted a nearly 9 percent gain in daily visitor census 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.

Jack Richards, president and CEO of Hawaii’s largest wholesaler, Pleasant Holidays LLC, said a positive U.S. economy and increased air seat capacity to Hawaii are fueling tourism gains.

“It’s a very robust economy in the state of California, and there’s relative strength out of the U.S. East Coast. The economy is humming along, and combined with added seat capacity and relatively low airfares, it’s a good story for Hawaii,” Richards said. “I thought Hawaii would have a record year in 2018, and I hold to that forecast.”

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.

“All four island counties benefited from this broad foundation of visitor travel from global markets, but it was especially encouraging to see visitor spending on Oahu increase by 19.6 percent to $674 million for the month. That was, by far, the largest monthly increase year-over-year for Oahu in several years,” Szigeti said.

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, daily visitor spending rose to $212, a gain of more than 2 percent from the same period in 2017.