Chinese visitors help boost New Zealand accommodation sector

WELLINGTON - A surge in Chinese visitors helped boost New Zealand's accommodation sector in August, according to figures from the government statistics agency Monday.

Guest nights in commercial accommodation for August were up 4.2 percent year on year, said a statement from Statistics New Zealand.

Domestic guest nights were up 5 percent and international guest nights were up 2.6 percent.

For the year ended August, national guest nights were up 5.4 percent from the August 2014 year.

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

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

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

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.