Visitor arrivals and spending rose again, making May the third straight month that Hawaii’s four largest visitor markets reported year-over-year increases in both performance categories.

Visitor arrivals to Hawaii increased nearly 5 percent to 751,191 visitors in May, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). Spending by these visitors increased nearly 9 percent to $1.3 billion, HTA said.

“The month of May, historically an off-peak travel period, maintained the strong pace of Hawaii’s tourism industry that no one predicted at the start of the year,” said George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. “Tourism’s economic impact was spread across the state, with double-digit increases in visitor spending reported for Maui, Kauai and the island of Hawaii.”

Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island experienced gains in visitor spending and arrivals in May 2017 compared to May 2016.

The growth occurred despite a slight dip in airseats, which fell 0.7 percent to 971,957. Airseats dropped from Asian countries outside of Japan, Oceania and the U.S. West, but were offset by seat gains from the U.S. East and Japan.

For the first five months of the year, arrivals grew just over 4 percent to nearly 3.8 million visitors and spending increased nearly 10 percent to $6.9 billion.