Chinese tourists helped drive an almost $11 million boost to Otago coffers last month, producing dividends for the hospitality and tourism industry.
New figures from electronic transactions processor Paymark showed foreign eftpos and credit card transactions in the region in February rose from $33.7 million last year to $44.5 this year.
The $10.8 million rise represents a 32% increase on the same month last year.
Otago has also starred with transactions generally, coming in second only to Nelson, recording a 9.8% increase across all sectors for the month.
Dunedin City Council business development adviser Sophie Barker described the news as ''fantastic''.
Ms Barker said feedback from shops in the central city was cruise ship visitors were spending more.
There had also been a lot more international visitors at the i-Site visitor centre.
As well as cruise ship visitors, there were more free independent travellers in the city, which meant plenty of tourists, even when there were no cruise ships.
Ms Barker said that was a result of an improving economy in some parts of the world.
''We've had a rough few years,'' she said.
Tourists now were ''more willing to part with their cash'', which was good for businesses.
Destination Queenstown communications manager Sarah Stacey said anecdotally, February had been ''extremely busy'' in Queenstown.
''It is traditionally Queenstown's peak season, with high levels of international visitors, and in addition to that Chinese New Year has fallen in February as well.''
Paymark processed credit card transactions from about 148 foreign countries during February.
The company's figures showed the highest number of foreign transactions were from credit cards issued in China and the United States. Australia and the United Kingdom also made ''a substantial contribution''.
''Not surprisingly, more than 60% of the foreign card spending in February came through merchants in the hospitality or tourism sectors, such as hotels, cafes and tourist activity operators,'' head of customer relations Mark Spicer said.
Spending on all cards in Otago increased from $230.5 million in February last year to $253 million this year, a rise of $22.5 million.
Other sectors, nationally, that benefited from an increasing number of visitors to New Zealand were supermarkets and takeaways, with an extra $2.9 million through overseas credit cards.
The clothing, footwear and jewellery sectors received a $2million boost.
Mr Spicer said extra foreign card spending was a significant factor behind the double-digit annual spending growth within the hospitality sector.
Total spending across the accommodation sector was up 15.5% on last February while the food and beverage sectors were up 12.7%.
