Overseas visitors drive record month for New Zealand accommodation

[Photo/Xinhua]

New Zealand's commercial accommodation saw record occupancy levels in December 2016, driven by rising numbers of overseas visitors, the government statistics agency said Monday.

Overall national guest nights for December were 3.4 percent higher than in December 2015, and were the highest for any December month, according to a Statistics New Zealand report.

International guest nights, which had risen throughout the last three years, were up 7.5 percent year on year, while international visitor arrivals were up 11 percent to 494,200.

Domestic guest nights were up 0.3 percent, following falls in October and November 2016.

A surge in travelers from China, Australia and the United States drove New Zealand visitor numbers to a new annual record last year, the said in January.

Annual visitor arrivals numbered almost 3.5 million, up 11.8 percent from 2015.

Visitor numbers from Australia were up 6.2 percent to 1.4 million, while Chinese visitor numbers rose 14.9 percent to 409,008, and US numbers were up 19.9 percent to 291,392.