Chinese New Year, sport drive boost for New Zealand tourism sector
Xinhua, April 10, 2015 Adjust font size:
The Chinese New Year and the Cricket World Cup boosted New Zealand's visitor accommodation sector in February, the government statistics agency announced Friday.
Guest nights in February were 5.4 percent higher year on year, making it the 11th consecutive month of rises, according to Statistics New Zealand.
"Most of the increase in February was from international guest nights," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
"Visitor numbers to New Zealand were boosted by the Chinese New Year and Cricket World Cup."
Domestic guest nights were up 2.5 percent year on year and international guest nights were up 8.6 percent.
For the year ended February, national guest nights were up 5.3 percent.
Total visitor arrivals to New Zealand were up by 343,500, or 14 percent, year on year in February 2014, Statistics New Zealand said last month.
Visitor numbers from the Chinese mainland were up 96 percent year on year to 56,000. Endi