Overseas holiday-makers drove up visitor spending in New Zealand by 11 percent to 7.1 billion NZ dollars (6.01 billion U.S. dollars) in the year to the end of June, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced Thursday.

Spending by holiday visitors was up by 23 percent to 4.36 billion NZ dollars (3.69 billion U.S. dollars), according to the ministry's International Visitor Survey.
"This latest data shows the continued recovery of the tourism sector, and confirms what we have been seeing in other data sources and what we hear from the industry," ministry sector performance manager Peter Ellis said in a statement.
The survey results showed a significant increase in total spending by visitors from the United States, up an estimated 53 percent from the previous year, and Germany, up 63 percent.
Australian visitors spent the most at 2.11 billion NZ dollars ( 1.78 billion U.S. dollars), although this was down 4 percent year on year, followed by Chinese visitors, whose total spending was up 26 percent to 912 million NZ dollars (772.29 million U.S. dollars).
Total spending by business travelers was down 22 percent to 459 million NZ dollars (388.68 million U.S. dollars).