CHINESE visitors ramped up spending on their credit cards in New Zealand by 23.7 percent last month to become one of the biggest spending tourism groups, according to figures from a major New Zealand electronic payment firm yesterday.

    A total of 278.8 million NZ dollars (US$187.91 million) were transacted through the Paymark network in February by holders of credit cards that had been issued overseas, an increase of 14.6 percent year on year.

    By country of origin, Australian cards were the biggest spender with 54.59 million NZ dollars, up 18.71 percent, followed by Britain and the United States. Spending on cards from China came in fourth at 16.4 million NZ dollars.

    While the current residence of the card holder was unknown, it was reasonable to presume that a large proportion of the spending was by tourists because it occurred in tourism destination areas, Paymark chief marketing officer Tim McFarlane said in a statement.

    “Interestingly, cards used in New Zealand in February came from 161 different countries, showing the breadth as well as the strength of the tourist market,” McFarlane said in a statement.(Xinhua)