Over the quarter, total services spending expanded by 11 per cent. Total spending on goods fell slightly, declining 0.7 per cent, KiwiBank data showed.
Entertainment spending rose 10 per cent over the September quarter. Spending on sporting events was especially strong, up almost 5 per cent.
Commenting on StatsNZ electronic card data for September, Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod noted that spending in the hospitality sector was now back around pre-pandemic levels.
It has been boosted by the reopening of the borders and the return of international visitors.
Normally this kind of lift in consumer spending activity would be unambiguous good news for the economy.
But in the current inflationary environment, it could keep the economy running at capacity for longer.
That may ultimately mean the Reserve Bank has to push interest rates higher than currently forecast - putting the economy under even more pressure and potentially costing jobs.
"Now that the borders are open and international tourist dollars are flowing back in, overall demand in the economy is proving to be resilient in the face of interest rate hikes, Ranchhod said.
"And that means the RBNZ still needs to do more to dampen inflation pressures."
Economists now see the official cash rate rising (from its current level of 3.5 per cent ) to between four and 4.75 per cent next year.
If that happens the post-Covid party may well be short-lived.
Kiwis face an increasingly tough economic outlook with rising interest rates, the increased cost of living, and falling house prices.
This week the International Monetary Fund warned that the world faces an even tougher economic climate in 2023 as interest rates start to bite.
The international agency said global growth will slow next year and warned that 2023 "will feel like a recession" for millions around the world.
In some key areas of the economy, spending is already falling fast.
The KiwiBank data showed housing-related spending continued to fall over the quarter, down 4.5 per cent.
"A third of the spending categories monitored by Kiwibank Economics recorded a drop in the volume of transactions made over the quarter," said KiwiBank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. "All were concentrated within the discretionary spending space."
A slowdown in consumption was coming and it was "by design" with the Reserve Bank hiking interest rates to achieve that goal, he waned.
"It's needed to cool demand, restore balance in the economy, and ultimately, return the inflation beast to its cave," Kerr said.
It increasingly looks like there is no way around a tough economic slowdown in the coming months.
New Zealanders need to be braced for the economy to take a darker turn.
