Tourist spending up in New Zealand

Travellers within New Zealand spent $7.2 billion in the year to September, up 7.5 per cent on the same period previously, the Tourism Ministry said yesterday.

The lift has come after two years of stagnant growth and a spokesman said that as 2 per cent could be attributed to rising fuel costs, 5.5 per cent would be the true spending increase.

The average length of stay by overnight travellers increased from 2.9 to three days. The number of overnight trips increased 0.4 per cent and the total number of nights rose 4 per cent.