Hawaii tourism beat expectations in July with a near 10% rise in visitor spending.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority said spending was up 9.8% year over year to $1.59 billion in July.
That was fueled by a 6.8% increase in visitor arrivals due to higher air seat capacity.
All major markets experienced growth except Canada.
The largest gains came from the US East Coast market with tourism related spending up a healthy 22% from 11% growth in visitor arrivals.
Overall average daily spending also saw a slight increase to $196 per day per day.
"July is typically the peak month of the year for Hawaii tourism and one that industry partners count on to generate good results. Even so, the 9.8% increase in visitor spending and 6.8% increase in visitor arrivals in July completely exceeds any forecasts that were made for the month. That sentiment is also true for the first seven months of the year," said HTA president and CEO George Szigeti.
For the first seven months of the year, arrivals are up almost 5% to 5.5 million visitors.
