WELLINGTON - Chinese visitors spent a record NZ$979 million ($772 million) in New Zealand in the year ending September, according to New Zealand government figures on Friday.

The sum was up 33 percent year on year, and averaged NZ$4,200 ($3,307) per visitor, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

"The continued growth in the Chinese market is great news for the industry, given the introduction of a new tourism law in China in 2013 that placed restrictions on tourism companies selling low-cost shopping tours to New Zealand and other destinations," MBIE sector performance manager Peter Ellis said in a statement.

China was second on the visitor spending list, behind New Zealand's biggest tourist market, Australia, whose visitors spent a total of NZ$2.02 billion ($1.59 billion).

Significant increases in spending were also recorded by visitors from the United States (up 33 percent) and the United Kingdom (up 23 percent), but spending by visitors from Australia, the country's biggest tourist market, fell by 11 percent.

Overall, the total spend by international visitors rose by 10 percent to NZ$7.2 billion ($5.67 billion).