China market signals hope for New Zealand tourism

WELLINGTON, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) --- China has buoyed up New Zealand's tourism industry over the last two years, compensating for declining visitor numbers from traditional markets, the New Zealand government statistics agency announced Thursday.

Overseas visitor numbers to New Zealand plunged by 15 percent to 184,200 last month, compared to October last year, but were comparable to October 2010, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"The decrease in October 2012 followed an increase in October 2011, when 53,200 visitors arrived for the Rugby World Cup," population statistics manager Andrea Blackburn said in a statement.

"The latest month had a similar number of visits as October 2010."

Although the number of visitors was similar to October 2010, last month saw 6,700 more arrivals from China, and fewer arrivals from the United Kingdom (down 2,000), Japan (down 1,700), and Korea (down 1,400).

Visitor arrivals from China numbered 15,300 last month the highest ever for an October month and a 77-percent increase, or a rise of 8,600, on the October 2010 figure.

The largest increases in the 12-month figures were in visitors from China and Australia, and the largest decreases from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and France.

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