KEY POINTS:
Spending by international tourists has continued to grow despite tougher times for the industry, research by the Ministry of Tourism shows.
In the year to March 2008 visitor spend grew by 2.7 per cent to $6.16 billion - the highest level recorded.
Ministry head of research Bruce Bassett
said the growth was encouraging in the current challenging operating environment for New Zealand.
"There are a number of global influences at play which are shaping tourism sector performance at present. These include economic difficulties in key markets like the UK and US, hikes in oil prices leading to increases in the cost of travel. Also, intra-Asia travel is increasing, at the expense of long haul travel to such destinations as New Zealand.
"In spite of these factors, New Zealand managed to achieve moderate growth in both visitor arrivals and in the overall spending of these visitors."
But the research also showed the increase has slowed significantly.
Between 2006 and 2007 spending increased by $352 million but between 2006 and 2007 it only grew by $162 million.
For the first time in five years the money spent by those coming to New Zealand specifically for a holiday has dropped, falling $83 million or 2.5 per cent to $3285 million.
Bassett said the fall-off was linked to an increase in short-haul visitors from Australia at the same time as a drop off in visitors from Britain, the US and Europe.
While Australian tourists still had a high average daily spend they tended to stay for much less time than those coming from further away.
During the year money spent by Australians increased 17 per cent to $1699 million while US visitor spend dropped off by more than 10 per cent falling $75 million to $627 million.
Japanese visitor spend was up $22 million or 5.5 per cent despite a continued decline in tourists. The money spent by Chinese tourists, which have been steadily increasing, fell by $5 million or 1.8 per cent.
Bassett said the figures showed the Japanese market remained extraordinarily valuable to New Zealand while the result for China was symptomatic of the change in type of tourist from the region.
Over the last eight years it had moved from being education focussed visitors to more leisure travellers which meant their time in New Zealand had dropped off significantly.
Bassett said it was difficult to predict whether tourism spend would continue to grow over the next year.