Total visitor arrivals to Hawaii in July fell 1.9 percent, but total visitor spending grew 5.2 percent, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said today.

The $55.8 million gain in visitor spending represented the 15th consecutive month of increased visitor spending, HTA officials said. The 668,193 visitors that came to Hawaii in July spent a total of $1.1 billion. Average daily spending among these visitors rose by $13 to $177 a day.

Hawaii”s tourism economy continues to fare well despite global economic uncertainty, with an increase in arrivals and visitors who are staying longer and spending more than they did in 2010, said HTA President and Chief Executive Mike McCartney.

"Working in partnership with our visitor industry, the HTA remains committed to aggressively marketing Hawaii to build on the momentum in the first half of the year to drive our state’s economy to recovery," McCartney said.

July arrivals from Canada grew 28.6 percent, which was the thirteenth consecutive month of double-digit growth for that market; however, the number of visitors coming from all other major markets to Hawaii dropped. Arrivals from the U.S. East market fell 6 percent, while arrivals from Hawaii’s core U.S. West market dropped by 1 percent, the second monthly decline in a row. After four consecutive months of double-digit drops, losses in arrivals from the Japan market narrowed to a 9.2 percent fall in July.

Spending by visitors from Canada in July rose by 37.9 percent, spending by Japan visitors rose by 3.9 percent and spending from U.S. West tourists rose by 2.9 percent. However, spending by visitors from the U.S. East fell by 6 percent.

For the first seven months of the year, overall visitor spending was up 16.1 percent to $7.2 billion and total arrivals grew by 3.6 percent to about 4.23 million visitors, according to the HTA.