Visitor arrivals from the Chinese mainland increased by 6,500 (76 percent) in February 2007, compared with February 2006, Statistics New Zealand said Tuesday.

It said some of the increase was due to the timing of Chinese New Year, which fell in February this year but January last year.

The latest increase pushed annual visitor arrivals from China to 113,000, surpassing South Korea to become the fifth-largest source of visitors to New Zealand.

The increase from China and a six percent increase from Australia helped visitor arrivals reach 267,600 in February 2007, up six percent from the 252,400 visitor arrivals in February 2006,said Statistics New Zealand.

Seasonally adjusted visitor arrivals increased by seven percent between January and February 2007.

In the year ended February 2007, there were 2.433 million visitor arrivals, a record for any 12-month period.

There were more visitors from Australia (up 30,000) and China (up 24,700), but fewer from Japan (down 22,000) and the United Kingdom (down 10,100), said Statistics New Zealand.

Editor: Donald