Hawaii's visitor industry started the year with improved arrivals and spending, but it will be a challenge to keep the momentum through spring and summer.

A 2 percent increase in visitor arrivals in January helped Hawaii's fragile visitor industry begin the year with its second straight month of visitor spending growth since the devastating shutdown of Aloha and ATA airlines in the spring of 2008. The results were good for Hawaii's visitor industry, but it isn't hard to improve on January 2009's 12.5 percent drop in arrivals after the Lehman Bros. crash.

“;The good news about 2010 is the year-over-year comparisons are against a really rotten year, so everything will look good for a while,”; said Barry Wallace, executive vice president of hospitality services for Outrigger Enterprises.

A 17.7 percent rise in Canadian visitors, a 2.2 percent increase in the U.S. West market and 5 percent more cruise ship passengers boosted total spending in January to $983.3 million, which was 3.5 percent greater than the same month in 2009, according to statistics released yesterday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. However, visitors from the U.S. East fell 2.7 percent, while arrivals from Japan declined a scant 0.6 percent.

Overall, increased airlift, marketing blitzes in the U.S. West and Canada and deep discounting helped create a favorable January for state tourism and sparked interest in February and in spring break.

That said, the bigger concern for the state's economic engine will be keeping demand high enough to get over the traditional 60- to 90-day hurdle that falls between the end of March and middle of June, said Ben Rafter, president and chief executive officer of Aqua Hotels & Resorts.

“;This is traditionally a slow time, so it will be a difficult period,”; Rafter said. “;We always hope we can build a strong enough first quarter to get us over that hurdle and into summer.”;

As a result, Hawaii's visitor industry has kept the deep discounts that it rolled out last year when the major tourism downturn began and upped the ante for travelers, said Barry Wallace, executive vice president of hospitality services for Outrigger Enterprises Group.

“;Airfare and rooms are readily available and at good prices,”; Wallace said.

Flights are a lot fuller, said Lance Kaufman, a repeat Hawaii visitor who brought his family of six and mother on a trip to Hawaii.

“;We found seats but the planes were crowded,”; said the Riggins, Colo.-based Kaufman, who visits his time share every other year.

That's good news for Hawaii's visitor industry, which faces severe discounting competition from other destinations that are eager to capture increasingly price-sensitive travelers, said Jack E. Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, Hawaii's largest wholesaler.

“;Everybody is discounting right now,”; Richards said. “;We all know that the economy is still not back where it should be and that unemployment is still high.”;

Forward bookings are looking good, said Jerry Gibson, area vice president of Hawaii and managing director of Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa.

“;It's starting to pick up now,”; Gibson said. “;There is an even spread of bookings, and that's a very good sign.”;

Still, in between spring break and the peak summer season, there will be lean periods, Rafter said.

To further support airlift and increase visitor demand, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and industry partners visited Seattle in January and Los Angeles in February and are preparing to pepper potential visitors from San Francisco with Hawaii information in March.

“;The blitzes allow us to get the Hawaii message to a key audience at a much louder noise level,”; said Jay Talwar, HVCB's senior vice president of marketing.

Mike McCartney, HTA's president and CEO, partially credits a successful Pacific Northwest marketing blitz in the fall of 2009 for January's positive results from the U.S. West. As a result of the blitz, arrivals from Oregon were up 8.7 percent, and they rose 6.9 percent from Washington, he said.