A surge in the number of visitors from China helped drive up business in New Zealand's accommodation sector for the eighth month running in November last year, according to figures from the government statistics agency released on Friday.

Guest nights in the accommodation sector were up 5.9 percent year on year in November with domestic guest nights up 3.9 percent and international guest nights up 8.5 percent, according to Statistics New Zealand's accommodation survey.

For the year ended November 2014, national guest nights were up 5.4 percent from the November 2013 year.

Figures released by Statistics New Zealand last month showed visitor numbers from China soared almost 50 percent from November 2013, driving up total visitor arrivals to New Zealand by 8 percent year on year to 270,400.

Arrivals from China numbered 27,200, up 8,800 year on year and a record for a November month, making China the second biggest source country for visitors after Australia.