Chinese New Year helps drive record occupancy rates in New Zealand

The Chinese New Year holiday helped drive a record rise in occupancy in New Zealand's accommodation sector in February, according to figures from the government statistics agency Tuesday.

Guest nights for February were up 7 percent year on year, with domestic guest nights up 6.1 percent and international guest nights up 8 percent, said Statistics New Zealand.

"The rise for February follows a record high in January," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.

"Guest nights have been rising for almost two years."

International visitor arrivals numbered 373,400 in February, up 9 percent from February 2015, Statistics New Zealand said last month.

Visitor numbers over the Chinese New Year period made it New Zealand's biggest Chinese New Year to date, with a record 51,200 Chinese visitors arriving in the two weeks either side of the actual New Year's day, which fell on Feb. 8 this year. Endit