A turnaround in the Japan tourism market and strong business from the U.S. mainland helped Hawaii’s visitor industry start the year with robust arrivals and spending.

January visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands grew nearly 5 percent to 756,313 visitors, while spending rose just over 10 percent to $1.6 billion, according to preliminary numbers released Tuesday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

“January’s visitor statistics show Hawaii’s tourism industry is off to a good start this year,” George Szigeti, HTA president and CEO, said at a Tuesday news conference held to promote this year’s Honolulu Festival.

The first-month numbers are giving the tourism industry hope that 2017 will surpass last year’s record-setting gains when visitor arrivals rose 3 percent to 8.9 million visitors and spending increased just over 4 percent to $15.6 billion. A good sign is the rebound from the important Japan market, which ended 2016 with flat arrivals and spending increases of only 2 percent.

“Japan produced the best visitor statistics of any market in January,” Szigeti said.

Visitors by air from Japan, Hawaii’s largest international market, grew nearly 7 percent to 123,390 in January. Szigeti said the nearly 27 percent increase in Japan visitor spending was “gratifying and helped offset the overall drop in visitor spending from Hawaii’s other international markets.”

“January was the first full month we saw the positive impact of Hawaiian Airlines’ new nonstop service between Haneda and Kona,” Szigeti said in a statement. “As we had hoped, this new route provided a tremendous boost to the island of Hawaii in January, with visitor arrivals from Japan increasing by 30.6 percent. Kauai also realized a 26.6 percent growth in visitor arrivals from Japan due to increased air service to Honolulu.”

Rush buyers hoping to purchase airline tickets before an airline fuel surcharge comes back in April are keeping Japan tourism to Hawaii strong through the first quarter, said Danny Ojiri, vice president of market development for Outrigger Enterprises Group.

More flights for the underserved Osaka market, low-cost carrier Air Asia’s plan for summer service, and additional premium seats from carriers like Hawaiian, Japan Airlines and Delta will further buoy demand, Ojiri said.

“It’s also about what we have to offer — all the beauty and aloha — and a lot to do with our competition. Hawaii is perceived as safer,” Ojiri said. “It’s all coming together. This year looks really good.”

Tsukasa Harufuku, president and CEO of JTB Hawaii Inc., said Japanese consumers have an improved perception of their economy, which is performing better than five years ago.

“This year’s start is better than last year’s, so we are very optimistic. The upper market and the cheap market are both doing very well, and Hawaii can accommodate them both,” Harufuku said. “Major corporate companies also are optimistic and are booking more incentive trips.”

The Honolulu Festival, which will be held March 10-12, also is expected to draw eastbound visitors, he said. The festival is slated to attract more than 5,000 participants, including more than 150 groups from the Pacific Rim and Hawaii, Harufuku said.

Szigeti said January visitor spending gains also were driven by strong results from the mainland. According to HTA data, Hawaii’s core U.S. West market saw arrivals by air increase almost 5 percent to 266,780. Spending by U.S. West visitors hit $544 million, a gain of nearly 20 percent. Arrivals by air from Hawaii’s next-largest market, the U.S. East, grew just over 6 percent to 172,680 visitors. Spending by U.S. East visitors rose almost 7 percent to $433.1 million.

It was more of a mixed bag in other international markets. Air arrivals from the mature Canada tourism market rose 2 percent to 65,048, while its spending dropped 0.6 percent to $158.4 million. Arrivals by air from all other international markets outside of Canada and Japan dropped nearly 2 percent to 110,986. Spending from these markets fell just over 4 percent to $265.7 million.