Chinese, Australian visitors help New Zealand's surging tourism spending

Domestic tourism spending increased 7.4 percent to 20.2 billion NZ dollars ($14.48 billion).

Total tourism expenditure rose 12.2 percent to 34.7 billion NZ dollars ($24.87 billion), following a 10.3-percent increase in the previous year.

Tourism generated a direct contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of 12.9 billion NZ dollars ($9.25 billion), or 5.6 percent of GDP.

The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional 9.8 billion NZ dollars ($7.02 billion) for tourism, or 4.3 percent of GDP.

The tourism industry directly employed 188,136 people, 7.5 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand.