Busy winter as overseas guests arrive | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

Some hospitality operators in Wanganui are not surprised at news of a surge in tourists to New Zealand this winter.

The numbers of visitors in New Zealand in July was up four per cent on last year, bringing arrivals to record levels, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Clive Rivers, of the Braemar, said his business was up 5 per cent on this time last year.

"We are very happy. Don't know where all this doom and gloom is coming from.

"We've had guests from Russia, Spain, France, the Czech Republic. A lot come from the Eastern European countries. They come this time of the year because it's cheaper, of course. But they like to ski and walk."

He said most came to the city out of curiosity and enjoyed what Wanganui had to offer, though some found some of the locals "a little scary".

Mr Rivers said he was already taking summer bookings and was fully booked for the Masters Games in January.

The operators of the Top 10 Holiday Park said they enjoyed a busy June and July but August was a little quieter.

They also report steady bookings for summer.

However, Rory Smith, of Tamara Backpackers, couldn't share their winter cheer.

He said he probably had one of his worse Julys, though he agreed, unlike the Braemar and Top 10, the majority of his guests were single backpackers.

However, he remained positive about an upswing and said business was building for summer.

"We've got good bookings for some sports events, so it's not all bad."

A total of 182,900 people visited New Zealand in July.

The increase in visitor numbers was driven by a large increase in numbers from China, 3900 more than last year.

Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said the numbers of visitors from Asia was recovering from the impact of the swine flu epidemic.

"Although visitor numbers from Japan and Korea have only partially recovered after the H1N1 pandemic affected travel from those countries in July 2009, visitor arrivals from China have now exceeded levels before the pandemic," Ms Hamilton-Seymour said.