Int'l travelers help drive up New Zealand retail spending

Overseas visitors and immigrants helped drive up retail spending in New Zealand last month, the government statistics agency said Wednesday.

Hospitality led the increase, with shoppers spending more in restaurants, takeaway shops, and on accommodation, according to an analysis of credit and debit card spending in October by Statistics New Zealand.

Total retail spending using electronic cards was 5.1 billion NZ dollars (3.76 billion U.S. dollars), up 4.2 percent from October 2015, with the largest increase in the hospitality industry, which was up 124 million NZ dollars (91.47 million U.S. dollars) or 15 percent.

"The higher hospitality spending coincides with a period of rising international tourism in New Zealand, record levels of migration, and an eight-year low in unemployment," business indicators manager Tehseen Islam said in a statement.

Retail spending rose 0.6 percent from the month of September, following a 2-percent rise in September.

While overseas visitor numbers for October are yet to be released, visitor numbers in the month of September were up by 16,200 year on year to a record 245,100, driven by a 10-percent rise in arrivals from Australia.

Earlier this month, Statistics New Zealand announced the unemployment rate was down to 4.9 percent in the quarter to the end of September from 5 percent in the previous quarter. Endit