International visitors to New Zealand have spent a record high $10.4 billion in the year to September.
The International Visitor Survey released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has international visitors to our shores spending four per cent more in the year compared to September 2016.
MBIE's manager of sector trends Mark Gordon said one of the major reasons for this is a jump in spending from US visitors of 14 per cent, equaling $1.2 billion.
There's a festival atmosphere in the Otago town today with thousands of British visitors around.
"Direct flights between Auckland and Houston have helped attract more visitors from the US," Mr Gordon said.
UK visitors also spent upwards of $181 million in the third quarter of 2017, over 100 per cent up on last year, due to the hugely popular British and Irish Lions tour.
Australian visitors remain the largest international market for spending in New Zealand, spending $2.6 billion over the year to September 2017, Mr Gordon said.
The next largest market was Chinese visitors who spent $1.4 billion.
"While international visitor numbers continue to climb, up nine per cent over the year to September 2017, overall expenditure growth has been moderated by the strong New Zealand dollar, which has affected the amount visitors spend on average," Mr Gordon said.
"MBIE has predicted that visitor numbers and spend should see a steady growth over the next few years, growing by 47 per cent by 2023 to $15.3 billion."
The International Visitor Survey is compiled from approximately 8,928 visitors departing New Zealand airports, with data released by MBIE quarterly.
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