Tourists spent $1.7b in Bay of Plenty in last year

Tourist spending is up in the Bay of Plenty. Photo/File

Tourists to the Bay of Plenty spent $1.7 billion in the last 12 months to February - up 5 per cent on the previous year.

The latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment were released today.

International visitors spent $588 million and domestic tourists $1.1 billion.

Month-to-month comparisons show tourist spending in Bay of Plenty for the month of February 2017 is level compared with February 2016.

MBIE's Manager of Sector Trends Peter Ellis said though growth had continued over the year spending for the month of February was down in some places when compared to February 2016.

"Falls in February 2017 tourism spending compared with the same month last year - in Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago - were largely driven by decreases in spending by visitors from China, and to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom," Mr Ellis said.

"This softening of growth may be due to the higher value of the New Zealand dollar relative to those countries' currencies, and the fact that the Chinese New Year holiday fell in January this year.

"United States visitor spending, however, continued to rise with a 29 per cent increase in the month of February 2017, compared with February 2016. This included large increases in Auckland (35 per cent), Wellington (24 per cent), Canterbury (21 per cent) and Otago (18 per cent) for the same period."

To view the full statistics from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates, visit the MBIE website.