The Japanese population is aging and has created a market niche with great potential for Hawaii. They have the income levels and the time to travel.

As far as we can see it's nothing to be alarmed about. The demand for Hawaii is not easing as we move forward.

We are encouraged that first-quarter arrivals set a new record for the domestic market and total visitor days exceeded all previous years. Furthermore, we are excited by the strong growth in visitor arrivals from Canada and by the continued increase in the level of overall expenditures.

Passing the 7 million milestone was a tremendous achievement for our state's visitor industry, and we are also pleased to achieve an all-time high of $11.5 billion in expenditures. These milestones reflect the quality and professionalism of everyone involved in the visitor industry.

It's a small number, but it's growing. As more people migrate here to become residents, the word gets out in regards to what a beautiful destination this is.

I'm told that the airplanes now serve more airports around the state and Island Airlines provided more point-to-point connections between our islands than the other airlines in our state.