A dentists convention, a string of Japanese holidays and deep discounts on hotel rooms helped propel Hawaii to its third consecutive month of growing visitor arrivals in September.

Hawaii drew 494,376 tourists last month, up 7.2 percent from a year ago.

While the news offers hope, industry officials weren't ready to say a 17-month slump in tourism is over.

"It's nice to have the slide slowing down. It's way better news," said Barry Wallace, executive vice president of hospitality services of Outrigger Enterprises Group, "but it's a long way from a celebration."

Wallace said it's too early to restore any room rates that had been discounted, though it's encouraging to see growth in the number of people vacationing in Hawaii. Outrigger employees are working more hours since the hotels are busy, but Wallace said the profit margin remains precarious with such deep discounting.

Tourist spending remained down — by 3 percent — compared to earlier double-digit declines, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Visitors arriving by air spent $737.1 million in September, a drop of $22.7 million from a year earlier.

Average daily spending by visitors dropped to $171 per person, down from $186 per person in September 2008.

The number of visitors who came for conventions was up 64.7 percent, driven by the American Dental Association's 150th annual convention Sept. 30 through Oct. 7 and brought about 24,000 delegates to the Islands.

The number of visitors from the U.S. West rose for the fifth consecutive month, up 10.1 percent from last September to 194,369 visitors, noted Mike McCartney, president and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

McCartney said he's concerned but not surprised by the decline in spending. "During challenging economic times, visitor destinations throughout the world are fighting for market share," which meant Hawaii dropped prices.

"The American Dental Association convention, Silver Week and additional marketing efforts helped stimulate visitor arrivals in September, resulting in increased visitors from the U.S. and Japan," state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said.

She noted that visitors from the U.S. East increased for the first time since February 2008.

Three Japanese national holidays combined with a weekend to create the Silver Week holiday period that boosted Japanese air arrivals by 16.7 percent to 110,634 visitors. This was the first double digit growth in Japanese arrivals since March 2005.

Wienert said this month may be a lot tougher now that bookings have tapered off. "We still have some rough months ahead of us," she said.

Wienert said Jehovah's Witnesses conventions will help next month but the pace has slowed. There are open bookings for the December-January holiday period, which is traditionally booked up months in advance, often a year ahead, she said.

The number of visitor days for September 2009 rose 4.8 percent from the same month last year, the state reported. And the average length of stay was 8.89 days, compared with 9.10 days in September 2008.