The U.S. island of Hawaii saw nearly 9 million visitors in 2016, a record-setting figure, reported Hawaii News Now.
The recently released annual data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority also found that spending by tourists grew 4.2 percent from the year previous, totaling $15.6 billion last year. According to Hawaii News Now, 2016 marked the fifth consecutive year that tourism and spending have seen record growth.
Hawaii welcomed an average of 220,000 tourists per day last year. The growth was helped by an increase in visitors from Korea and both coasts of the U.S.
The island of Maui set a tourism record of its own, bringing in 2.6 million visitors in 2016, reported The Maui News. That figure is nearly 100,000 more travelers than arrived the year previous, a 3.9 percent increase.
Numbers from the HTA also indicate that spending by tourists jumped 8.9 percent between 2015 and 2016, rising from $4.1 billion to $4.6 billion.
On Monday, Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau executive director Sherry Duong noted that the residents of Maui help to give visitors a unique and authentic experience. That trait lends to the repeat visitors that make up 70 percent of annual tourists, she noted.
