Domestic travelers buoyed Hawaii’s visitor industry in October, which realized gains in overall visitor spending and arrivals.

Lead by strong increases in travelers from Hawaii’s core U.S. West and the U.S. East markets, overall October arrivals rose 3 percent to 659,821 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Significant honeymoon growth contributed to a 9.1 percent rise in visitors from the U.S. West, which numbered 259,144 in October, and a 7.7 percent jump to 123,675 visitors from the U.S. East

October arrivals from Hawaii’s top international market Japan fell 2.7 percent and declined 1.4 percent from Canada. They also fell in Korea and Taiwan, but rose in Latin America, Europe and China. And, while there were 51.6 percent fewer cruise ship arrivals in October due to the reduction in one ship, the total number of visitors who came for the niche meetings, conventions and incentives (MCI) market doubled from October 2013 to 56,472,

At the same time, total visitor spending in October rose 3.3 percent to $1.1 billion, a figure that has not been adjusted to reflect inflation. A year-over-year increase in air seats, especially from the U.S. West and U.S. East, were behind much of October’s gains. Arrivals from U.S. West and U.S. East took a hard hit in October 2013 as airlines cut seat capacity amid falling demand. But this October, air capacity to the state rose 5.4 percent to 897,190 total seats. An 11.2 percent increase in seats from the U.S. West and a 9.8 percent jump in seats from the U.S. East offset a 7.8 percent decline in seats from Japan and a 2.6 percent drop from Oceania. Seats from Korea and Taipei also fell.

October’s results kept Hawaii heading toward a slightly better year-end finish than last year. While arrivals were flat at nearly 6.88 million visitors for the first 10 months of the year, total visitor spending increased by 2.2 percent to $12.2 billion.