China pushes NZ visitor figures to record

WELLINGTON -- Visitors from China and Australia pushed overseas tourist numbers to a record August high last month, the New Zealand government statistics agency announced Friday.

Visitor arrivals in New Zealand reached 189,300 in August, up 6 percent from August last year, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"Short-term travel both in and out of New Zealand has climbed every August since 2009," population statistics manager Andrea Blackburn said in a statement.

The increase mostly came from Australia (up 4,500) and China (up 3,400).

In the year ended August, there were 2.658 million visitors from all countries, up 1 percent from the previous year.