An increase in conventions and meetings helped boost Hawai'i visitor arrivals in August to a record.

Hawai'i hosted 692,254 visitors last month, up 7.1 percent from August 2004, the previous record, according to data released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"It was good, definitely," said Aimee Osterhout, a night manager of Goofy Foot Surf School on Maui. August was generally about the same as the previous year and capped off an extremely busy summer, Osterhout said.

"We were extremely pleased with the strong performance of the visitor industry in August," said state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert, noting a 177 percent growth — 31,540 more people — in the meeting, convention and incentive market.

Wienert pointed to events including the American Legion 87th National Convention and the Academy of Management 2005 Annual Conference, which brought about 12,000 attendees and 5,500 attendees, respectively.

The tourism industry anticipates a record 7.4 million visitors this year as Hawai'i continues to benefit from its image as an exotic yet safe destination. Visitors so far through August total 5.02 million, the best eight months on record.

Overall visitor expenditures in August grew 9.5 percent year over year to nearly $1.05 billion, and average daily spending rose from about $164 per person to $167. The average length of stay for all visitors last month was up 0.6 percent, and the increase in arrivals lifted total visitor days by 7.7 percent.

Of the total visitors last month, 23,734 flew here to board Hawai'i-based cruise ships, up 36.5 percent from August last year, thanks to the addition of NCL America's Pride of America in July.

Much of the growth in visitor arrivals was from record numbers of Mainland tourists. The number of visitors from western states grew 7.6 percent, while tourists from the eastern states grew 14.2 percent.

Japanese arrivals fell slightly by 1.4 percent, the first decline in that market since December. Japan visitor expenditures also fell 7.8 percent from August last year, while all other major markets saw increases.

Gilbert Kimura, director of passenger sales and public relations at Japan Airlines, said he hasn't heard anything that indicates the dip in Japanese arrivals is a trend. He said August normally is a very strong month because of summer vacation and the Obon season.

"For the tourism people, any dip ... we have to take seriously and see what the problem is and then try to remedy it by having more promotions," he said."

All islands except for Moloka'i saw more visitors last month over the previous August. The Big Island saw the largest growth of 15.1 percent, followed by O'ahu (8.8 percent), Maui (6.3 percent), Kaua'i (5.3 percent) and Lana'i (4.2 percent). Moloka'i saw a 2.5 percent drop in tourists.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.