WELLINGTON -- Visitors from China soared last month -- up almost 50 percent from November last year -- driving up total visitor arrivals to New Zealand by 8 percent year on year to 270,400, the government statistics agency said Friday.

Arrivals from China numbered 27,200 last month -- a record for a November month, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Last November's figure of 18,400 was lower than the 21,800 in November 2012, as it followed the introduction of a new tourism law in China, which affected the type and price of tour packages.

Much of the growth from China was from Beijing (up 1,100 year on year), Guangdong (up 900) and Shanghai (up 600).

"China is the second-biggest source country for visitors to New Zealand," population statistics manager Vina Cullum said in a statement.

"In November 2014, there were 8,800 more visitor arrivals from China than in November 2013, and most were holidaymakers."

In the year ending November, total visitor arrivals numbered 2.84 million, up 5 percent year on year, with the biggest increases were from Australia, China and the United States.