The children of international visitors filled more than half of the slots at this year’s St. Andrew’s Summer Adventure Program, which has seen enrollment from foreigners rise about 700 percent from 2009.

Japanese students took 146 of the program’s 366 slots this summer, while 42 students came from China, four from South Korea and three from Taiwan, said Summer Adventure Director Vicki Lepick.

“We’ve had Japanese students for some time, but this year, we saw a real uptick in students from other countries, especially China,” Lepick said of the St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls’ summer program, which offers weekly sessions for students from kindergarten to eighth grade. “We’ve heard that in China parents are realizing that they’ve kept their children too isolated and there’s a movement to seek camp-type activities. They want them to learn social English and they also like that they get to learn American customs.”

The rise in enrollment by international visitors at St. Andrew’s is part of a growing trend in Hawaii and nationwide. Louise Minervino, director of academics for Intercultural Communications College, has seen phenomenal enrollment growth from international students in its school-age, teen, adult and senior programs. Currently, a third of the school’s students are from Switzerland, one-third hail from Japan and another third come from all over — with China among the growing markets.

“Conversational English is a big thing and the number of people getting visas to study in America is really growing. We’ve even added a special class for adults over 50 years old,” Minervino said. “Our teacher training programs are a big thing, too.”

According to the Institute for International Education, which conducts an annual census of international students in the U.S., the number of international high school and college students studying in the U.S. from 2013 to 2014 grew 8 percent to 886,052, a record high. Altogether these international students composed 4 percent of the U.S. higher education population and pumped more than $27 billion into the U.S. economy.

This higher education growth also drives participation in programs for younger international students, said Michael Shiu, whose family traveled to Hawaii for Summer Adventure.

“The motivation behind the trend is the continuing interest by millions of Chinese students seeking higher education in the United States. Many parents of these potential students now want to provide their children an earlier experience of the lifestyle in the United States, before they enroll in U.S. colleges,” Shiu said in an email.

He said the interest in Hawaii’s summer programs has grown through word of mouth as parents seek summer schools or summer camps as a way to provide this exposure. That’s one of the reasons that Pam Seelig, director of the Waikiki Community Center’s Early Education Program, said the preschool typically sees a rise in international enrollment from the end of May through September.

“We’ve never marketed it, but I have tour agents contact me,” Seelig said. “We are convenient for parents because we are in Waikiki, where many tourists stay and because 90 percent of our local students are already bilingual. We have staff and students that speak English, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.”

Seelig said international parents tell her that they want their children, ages 14 months to 5 years old, to experience an American preschool, where they improve their conversational English skills.

“Our minimum enrollment is one month so by the time that they leave our program they generally understand some English,” she said.

Lepick, the Summer Adventure director, said that in her experience international parents prefer a total immersion program for their children, who mostly communicate through the universal language of friendship.

“We found out right away that kids are kids,” Lepick said. “We keep them busy every moment and they stay happy.”

Betty Ng, a Summer Adventure staffer who hails from Hong Kong, said Chinese parents in particular are looking for experiences that will help their youngsters learn language skills and independence.

“It’s very important to Chinese parents that their children learn English and Mandarin,” Ng said. “In Hong Kong, we speak Cantonese. My parents sent me to China for three summers to learn Mandarin and I went to high school at St. Andrew’s Priory so that I could learn English.”

CJ Chen, owner of Hawaii-Day Wedding and Events, said the growth in educational tourism among Chinese aligns with a trend toward these visitors seeking more meaningful visitor experiences.

“The market is maturing and participating in a summer fun program or exchange program provides another level of travel,” he said. “We’ve seen more visitors who come here with the goal of doing something and learning something. They are looking for more authentic local experiences.”

Lepick said the program’s Chinese enrollment this year grew in part because of the Green Zhejiang Hawaii Nature and Water Conservation Tour, which was one of the events leading up to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Congress, which is coming to Hawaii Sept. 1-10, 2016.

“The guy in charge of it enrolled all 16 of the children of the delegates to that convention group in our camp,” she said. “We had a ceremony here where the children presented gifts, including golden canisters of Chinese green tea, to former Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Sandra Theunick, head of the St. Andrew’s Schools.”

As the World Congress nears, Lepick said, she is looking forward to greater opportunities to partner with the event’s 8,000 participants who come from government, the public sector, nongovernmental organizations, business, United Nations agencies and indigenous and grass-roots organizations. The purpose of the event, which is held every four years and last took place in 2012 in Jeju, South Korea, is to work toward solving the world’s most pressing environment and development challenges.

“Next year (during the World Congress), he’ll suggest that all of the delegates put their children in the program,” she said. “We are definitely looking at ways to partner with this program. It could help us grow our program, we’d like to get to 500 students.”

When children come to Hawaii to study, it often has a multiplier effect on Hawaii’s tourism economy. The accompanying adults increase demand for hotel rooms, restaurant business and car rentals. For example, this summer, Shiu said, his family of three spent 23 days in Hawaii for Summer Adventure.

“Our friend’s family also with a child at Priory, came with three adults — parents and grandmom. So I believe the summer camp would attract young students, and in turn would bring the children’s parents along to Hawaii,” he said. “If the program is adopted widely, this can be a big attraction to Hawaii tourism.”

Edu-tourism is a growing niche market that has tremendous potential, agrees George Szigeti, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and CEO.

“We are working collaboratively with other state entities and our industry and marketing partners to increase the understanding of edu-tourism, and create programs and initiatives within each of our major market areas to capitalize on the growing interest,” Szigeti said.