Stewart Island has been named one of the Southland locations visibly busier with international tourists since November 2014.

Visitors from Asian countries are coming south in greater numbers, travelling more independently, spending longer and arriving all year round, tourism industry sources say.

More Free Independent Travellers to the south mean more rental cars hires and longer stays, boosting tourism in Southland and Fiordland.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand show in November 2015, compared with November 2014, there was an increase of 9.2 per cent in total guest nights for Fiordland. There was an increase of 3.6 per cent in total guest nights for Southland.

Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park manager Roger Hyde said the most noticeable increases in visitors to the holiday park since 2013 was travellers from Asian countries.

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"There's been a huge increase in Asian visitors... from 2013 to now we've increased probably 300 per cent overall in everyone coming through. Predominantly most of them is the Asian market."

In recent years Asian visitors had become more independent and travelled with rental vehicles, rather than guided tours, Hyde said.

"There used to be pockets of the Asian market coming in and we would get them for the Chinese New Year, but now they come all year."

The holiday park kept a record of visitors and regularly analysed where the increases came from. Kiwi travellers remained frequent and appeared to have a growing interest in the South Island, Hyde said.

National guest nights for November 2015 were 4.6 per cent higher than in November 2014. South Island guest nights from November 2014 to November 2015 were up 7 per cent while North Island guest nights were up 2.9 per cent.

Statistics New Zealand business indicators manager Clara Eatherley said the South Island had led the way for guest nights when compared with figures from November 2014.

"The Otago region had the largest increase in guest nights, boosted mainly by Queenstown and Wanaka," Eatherley said.

Otago, which boasted tourism destinations Queenstown and Wanaka, had a rise of 11 per cent in guest nights since November 2014.

Venture Southland GM tourism, events and community Bobbi Brown said Chinese visitors were Southland's second largest tourism group, with Australian visitors being the largest.

The International spend index annual percentage change from November 2014 to November 2015 showed spending in Queenstown was up 15 per cent from Chinese visitors and 17 per cent from Japanese visitors.

"We're really pleased with the rate in growth because it's really quite steady and manageable, and we want to manage the impact on the community and the environment," Brown said.

The total number of passengers flying in and out of Queenstown Airport increased 21.7 per cent to 156,636 from December 2014 to December 2015 with growth for both domestic and international passengers.

Milford Sound, Stewart Island and the Catlins had notably more visitor traffic during the past year, and many were "self-driving" visitors, Brown said.

The guest night statistics come from the Accommodation Survey, which collects data for guests staying in hotels, motels, backpacker accommodation, and holiday parks in New Zealand each month.

Figures probably missed some Free Independent Tourists, including freedom campers, Brown said.

"What that means is that it doesn't show us all that's happening in Southland. I think anecdotally, people in Southland communities know more about what is happening."