The Tourism Industry is celebrating a boom time, with figures released for July showing a record number of people staying in paid accommodation and a 5.9% rise in international visitors.
Close to 184,000 people touched down in New Zealand in July, clocking up more than two million nights in paid accommodation. Most regions appear to be reaping the benefits, with nine of the 12 showing growth in overnight stays.
But there was a surprise in the type of accommodation they were seeking, with the backpacking sector experiencing a 4% jump in stays in July compared to the same time in 2012.
That tallies for Gloria Tomasi, a manager at Auckland's Queen Street Backpackers.
"Compared to last year, our numbers have doubled since last winter," she says.
"The last few months alone, it was really good between March to July."
Not far behind backpackers was the hotel sector, which recorded a 3.8% increase in visitors.
Tourism Association hotel sector spokesperson Racheal Shadbolt says that comes down to one thing - a "business as usual year".
"... we haven't seen any unusual events impact on people travelling, be that positive or negative events, like earthquakes or Rugby World Cups. It's just been a good year of good steady business," she says.
"The Global Financial Crisis seems to be at an end, the international markets are starting to travel again, the corporates are travelling."
Even the weather had come to the party, with a hot summer followed by the snow arriving at the right time for skiers.
Australians top visitors
Tourism New Zealand says the positive signs can be attributed to more than just the winter ski period, with a 21% growth in visitors from Britain and 11% from America.
Australians are still the main nationality at the arrivals gate though, with 1.2 million of them visiting last year, including an extra 6.6% this July compared to the same time last year.
Tourism Research Institute director Professor Simon Milne says Australia has been the industry's saviour over recent years, when visitors from further abroad decided to stay closer to home.
"I think the Australian market is going to continue to be a dominant market for us," he says.
"I think we are likely to see some possible downturns as some negative financial data starts to come out of the country but I don't think there's much doubt that they're going to continue on as our number one market."
China remains New Zealand's second largest source of tourists, with 250,000 visitors each year.
The China Outbound Tourism Research Institute forecast that there will be a 46% increase, or an extra 100,000 Chinese tourists, arriving in New Zealand in the next year.
