Japanese visitors significantly boosted their purchases with JCB credit cards in Hawai'i last year, even though the number of travelers making the trek declined by 10 percent.

The Japanese credit-card issuer yesterday reported a 6 percent increase in sales charged on JCB cards by Japanese travelers in Hawai'i between April 2006 and January 2007.

JCB general manager Thomas Wright said the company has had good results from its Discover Aloha Hawai'i marketing campaign launched last year that includes partnerships with Hawai'i Tourism Japan and a number of local businesses and organizations.

Wright said the company has extended the promotion for another year.

"Hawai'i is a key market, a very important market for JCB," Wright said.

He also noted a change in where Japanese visitors are shopping. The stereotype of the visitor from Japan 20 years ago was someone shopping at high-end status retailers, buying designer bags and clothing and not worrying too much about the price tag.

Wright said today's travelers are spending more time (and money) shopping at Ross Dress for Less, Payless Shoes and Kmart. "They're looking for bargains," he said.

The Discover Aloha Hawai'i campaign offers visitors chances to win prizes that range from a grand prize of a return trip to the Islands to a variety of smaller prizes.

This year, this company is offering 34,000 prizes: from ornaments, Kona coffee, clocks, ukuleles and Nintendo DS Lites (200 of them) to calculators and coupons worth $5.

Frank Haas, outgoing director of tourism marketing for the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, said JCB's push to work with partners in spending money to bring more visitors here is mutually beneficial.

"It creates excitement," he said.

One year into the campaign, the increase in sales for the company reflect another trend, Haas said. "Japanese visitor spending is up per person per day," he said. "Even though the market is down, they are spending more."

The decline in Japanese visitors has been a weak spot in what has otherwise been fairly robust growth in Hawai'i's tourism industry. Upscale jewelry store Tiffany & Co. on Monday said a decline in sales to Japanese visitors at its Hawai'i stores served as a drag on the New York-based company's fourth-quarter earnings.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.