New Zealand welcomes record number of visitors in March

The number of overseas visitors to New Zealand last month jumped up 15 percent year on year to hit a record 291,800, the government statistics agency said Thursday.

"Visitor numbers in March 2015 were boosted by the Cricket World Cup, and the earlier timing of Easter and overseas school holidays compared with 2014," Statistics New Zealand population statistics manager Vina Cullum said in a statement.

The figures rounded off a spectacular summer for the tourism industry, with holiday arrivals up 9.9 percent for the year ending March, said Kevin Bowler, chief executive of the government's Tourism New Zealand agency.

"Events like the ICC Cricket World Cup which kicked off in February and Chinese New Year have further boosted arrivals for the last couple of months," Bowler said in a statement.

Growth from China had been impressive, he said, with holiday arrivals up by more than 23.8 percent, pushing total Chinese arrivals up by 23.3 percent.

"What is most encouraging to see is continued signs that we are attracting more high quality visitors from this market with stay days up 32.7 percent, and for the year ending December 2014, spend up 50 percent." he added.