Summer tourism in Hawai'i has simmered rather than sizzled so far this year, according to the latest visitor arrival statistics from the state.

The number of visitors to Hawai'i dipped during June — down 0.8 percent compared to a year earlier — to 664,703. The report from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism also shows the amount of money spent by tourists is slightly lower — down 0.5 percent — for the first month of summer.

State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert found some good news despite the slippage. She noted that even the slightly lower numbers are still pretty impressive overall, "just shy of the record achieved in the first half of 2006."

Wienert noted that visitor expenditures sank slightly to $1.08 billion. The average daily spending was stable at $175 per person.

She said there was a small dip (-0.4 percent) in total visitor days. But visitors from the U.S. East increased (+1.3 percent) while arrivals from the rest of the state's main markets were lower compared to last June. They were: U.S. West (-3 percent), Japan (-3.2 percent) and Canada (-4.5 percent) compared to last June.

The decline in Japanese visitors was far smaller than in previous years, and Wienert found other bright spots: "We are also especially pleased with the strong growth in Japanese visitors coming to Hawai'i to honeymoon and get married."

The number of visitors coming to conventions was up more than 65 percent.

Wienert said the cruise industry also continues to boost arrivals and was especially strong from the U.S. East.

Overall cruise visitor days for June 2007 rose 44.4 percent, with the number of visitors who boarded an interisland or out-of-state cruise ship growing 35.3 percent to 35,897 visitors.

The industry is watching those numbers closely because Norwegian Cruise Lines has announced it will pull the largest of three ships plying the interisland cruise business next year. State officials noted that four out-of-state cruise ships visited the Islands during the month compared with one ship in June 2006 and contributed to the increase.

Through June, cruise visitors have risen 42.3 percent to 225,607. That included a bump in the visitors who arrived by air to board a cruise ship — up 46.1 percent compared with the same period in 2006.

The trend toward visitors staying in timeshare units instead of traditional hotels continued. For the first half of 2007, 8.4 percent more U.S. West visitors chose timeshare accommodations than in the same period last year.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.