"It's great to see the spending figures reflecting the feel on the street. Hastings CBD is pumping and retailer confidence is high going into the holiday period.
"We've see strong Christmas shopping already, and of course Black Friday sales were popular across the board."
Spending would also have been boosted by the arrival of eight cruise liners into Napier Port in November.
"The lead-up to Christmas this year has been a particularly busy one," Napier City Business Inc acting manager Steph Kennard said.
"The recent Black Friday sale was great with high sales and transaction figures. The CBD has continued to stay busy and there is no sign of it slowing, with Christmas fast approaching and a large amount of scheduled cruise ships in.
"This week in particular we have seven cruise ships due, with some days having multiple ships.
"To help our shoppers get through their lists, we are also planning a late night shopping in the CBD on Thursday, December 20 where over 75 of our stores will remain open to 7pm."
A Paymark spokesman confirmed that transactions carried out on tourists' cards were counted in the latest figures.
"We don't look at the cards just the terminals so if they use a card at a terminal it's counted."
