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Tourism drives big retail spending rise in New Zealand

Xinhua, August 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

New Zealand's booming tourism sector drove a big rise in retail spending on credit and debit cards last month, figures from the government statistics agency showed Tuesday.

Total retail spending on electronic cards was up 5.8 percent year-on-year to 4.8 billion NZ dollars (3.42 billion U.S. dollars) in July, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The largest increase was in the hospitality industry, where spending rose 18 percent, while the only decrease was in the fuel industry, where spending fell 8.6 percent.

"People spent more on accommodation and on food and drinks in restaurants and takeaway shops," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

"In contrast, they spent less on fuel, with petrol prices falling about 10 NZ cents (7 U.S. cents) a liter in July."

Retail spending rose 0.3 percent from June, when it edged up 1.2 percent from May.

Core retail spending, which excludes the vehicle-related industries, gained 0.7 percent from June. Endit