Hawaii could have more than 10M annual visitors for 1st time

HONOLULU (AP) - Tourism officials say Hawaii is on track to have more than 10 million visitors in one year for the first time in the state’s history.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday that Hawaii Tourism Authority data shows there have been nearly 8.7 million visitors through October.

The figure is a 5.5% increase over the 8.2 million arrivals through the same period last year, when the state’s annual count was 9.9 million visitors.

The authority says the 800,448 tourists who visited Hawaii in October was an increase of nearly 37,000 during the same month last year.

Officials say the 4.8% increase is part of a decade-long growth pattern.

Officials say the growth reflects more tourists traveling to the state from the U.S. mainland and countries including Japan and Canada.

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