WELLINGTON - A surge in Chinese visitors helped to offset a drop in visitor nights at commercial accommodation in New Zealand in May, according to figures from the government statistics agency.

International guest nights were up 9.7 percent year on year in May, while domestic guest nights fell by 6.4 percent, Statistics New Zealand said Tuesday.

Overall, total national guest nights for May were down just 0.4 percent year on year.

"International guest nights continued to rise strongly, but were offset in May by a fallback in domestic guest nights," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.

"May 2015 was a record May month for domestic and total guest nights."

Visitor arrivals numbered 193,600 in May, a new May record, Statistics New Zealand said last month.

For only the second time on record, tourist arrivals from China at 22,200 exceeded those from Australia at 20,200.

The only other time when arrivals from China surpassed those from Australia was February 2015.

For the year ended May, national guest nights were up 5.3 percent from the May 2015 year.