Visitors to Hawaii may have made shorter trips on average last month, but that didn’t stop total spending from surpassing what it was a year ago.

Total expenditures by visitors were up 7.8 percent in March 2013 from March 2012, hitting $1.3 billion. A total growth in arrivals and increased daily spending offset a shorter average length of stay, according to a press release put out today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Oahu led the growth in visitor arrivals with an 8.6 percent increase in arrivals.

— Alice Terry