Leap in Chinese tourists drives record New Zealand visitor numbers

WELLINGTON - A surge in the number of Chinese arrivals helped drive a record number of overseas visitors to New Zealand last month, the government statistics agency said Monday.

Visitor arrivals in August were up 7 percent year on year to 202,900, the highest ever for an August month, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The number of visitors in the year to the end of August was up 8 percent to an annual record of 3.02 million.

"China, Australia, and the United States drove the increase in holiday arrivals," population statistics manager Joel Watkins said in a statement.

Visitors arriving from China in August were up 5,200 year on year to 25,100, the highest-ever number for an August month.

In the year ending August, three countries accounted for 61 percent of New Zealand's overseas visitors: Australia with 1.29 million, China with 320,400, and the United States with 236,300.

The same three countries also provided the biggest increases compared with the 2014 year, with arrivals from China up 74,800, Australia up 55,700, and the United States up 23,800.