Visitor numbers from China more than doubled last month, driving tourist numbers to a record for August.

Statistics New Zealand said 9746 visitors came to New Zealand from China last month, a 112 per cent increase on the same month a year ago and higher than the previous record for August in 2007.

The increase in visitors from China was the main factor behind a 4 per cent rise in overall visitor numbers to 168,081, a record for August. Visitors from all countries in the year to the end of August also hit a new high, up 4.3 per cent to 2.51 million.

A year ago tourist numbers from Asia were down sharply because of the impact of the swine flu pandemic, but the region is now rebounding strongly, to close to pre-recession levels. Visitors from Japan rose 41 per cent over a year ago to 7876 while South Korea and India were also stronger.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler welcomed the greater diversity of visitor numbers away from Australia, and said he believed there was potential for the Chinese market to grow significantly.

Australia attracts around four times as many tourists from the world's most populous country, giving scope for a rise in overall numbers, and there were signs that visitors would start staying longer and spending more.

"I think that what we will see in China and other sectors is a rapid maturing ... from doing tours in a bus following a flag around, to very quickly becoming semi-independent travellers, getting out to more places in the country and staying a bit longer," Mr Bowler said.

Gains from Asia offset a fall in visitors in New Zealand's two largest markets last month.

Visitors from Australia, which accounts for close to half of all short-term visitors to New Zealand, dropped by around 400 to 87,956 in August, but were up about 8 per cent in the year to the end of last month.

Meanwhile, visitors from Britain dropped to 8800, a fall of more than 15 per cent. That was the lowest number in August since 1999, hit by a weak sterling and economic fears.

Statistics New Zealand also said that the number of long-term and permanent arrivals exceeded long-term and permanent departures by 800 in August.

An ASB economist, Christina Leung, said the net migration figure was showing signs of stabilisation from the weakness in recent months, which the Reserve Bank highlighted last week as one of the reasons for a cooling housing market.

"The August out-turn suggests net migration over the coming year might not be as subdued as initially expected," she said.

(Source Sunday Star Times)