Chinese, Australian visitors help New Zealand's surging tourism spending

Spending by foreign tourists in New Zealand surged by almost 20 percent in the year ended March, buoyed by rising numbers of visitors from Australia and China, according to figures from the government statistics agency.

Spending by international tourists in the year ended March climbed to 14.5 billion NZ dollars (10.39 billion U.S. dollars), up by 19.6 percent, while the number of short-term visitors was up 10.4 percent, said Statistics New Zealand on Wednesday.

In the year to the end of March, visitor arrivals hit a record 3.26 million, with Australia and China the two largest source countries.

The number of Chinese was up by 82,300 to 377,800 for the year.

"Increasing visitor numbers from across key international markets, on the back of expanding airline and cruise capacity, drove the increase in spending by international tourists," national accounts senior manager Daniel Griffiths said in a statement.

International tourism expenditure contributed 20.7 percent to New Zealand's total exports of goods and services.

Domestic tourism spending increased 7.4 percent to 20.2 billion NZ dollars (14.48 billion U.S. dollars).

Total tourism expenditure rose 12.2 percent to 34.7 billion NZ dollars (24.87 billion U.S. dollars), following a 10.3-percent increase in the previous year.

Tourism generated a direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of 12.9 billion NZ dollars (9.25 billion U.S. dollars), or 5.6 percent of GDP.

The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional 9.8 billion NZ dollars (7.02 billion U.S. dollars) for tourism, or 4.3 percent of GDP.

The tourism industry directly employed 188,136 people, 7.5 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand. Endit