Wellington, Dec 8 (IANS): Spendings from all international visitors totaled 1.03 billion NZ dollars ($650 million) in the third quarter of this year, with more than 60 per cent of that coming from Australian visitors.

The figure was published in the International Visitor Survey July-September 2022 on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

International tourists spent 200 million NZ dollars ($126.5 million) more than international visitors coming to see friends or relatives, despite making up a similar volume of arrivals, statistics show.

The median visitor for friends or relatives stayed for 11 days, while the median holidaymaker stayed for eight days, Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said, adding that regions are also benefiting from the return of international tourists.

"Airline capacity also continues to increase and will average 70 per cent of the 2019 levels over summer," the Minister said, adding New Zealand had more than 151,000 overseas visitor arrivals in September alone, which is a real boost for the tourism sector.

"This injection to the economy is likely to increase as New Zealand welcomes more international visitors this summer," said Nash.