Bay of Plenty's $319m spending spree

Shoppers in the Bay of Plenty have spent more than $319m in the past month. Photo/file

International tourists are believed to be responsible for a surge in spending in the Bay of Plenty last month.

Paymark figures released today show a total of 6.71 million transactions during the month of February in the Bay, an increase of 7.2 per cent year on year. This equated to a total of $319.4 million being spent, an increase of 7.1 per cent.

However, the highest annual underlying growth rates were recorded by merchants in Marlborough (16 per cent), which includes Kaikoura in the Paymark statistics, and Southland (11.6 per cent). Slow growth was experienced in Auckland/Northland (4.4 per cent) again, as well as in Nelson (+1.6 per cent) and Canterbury (+3.5 per cent).

Over the recent, busy four months, nationwide Paymark spending has totalled $20,921 million, up 5.4 per cent in underlying terms on November to February 12 months earlier. Within this total, payments with foreign-issued credit cards have totalled $1183 million, constituting 5.7 per cent of all payments.

In a statement released by Paymark, it stated the tourist impact was greater. Annual growth in international credit card spending was 11.3 per cent of the total spending growth. This spending impact of international tourists continued to be greatest among accommodation merchants, where they made up 32.8 per cent of the sector payments through Paymark and 55.3 per cent of their annual payment growth.