Chinese visitors are a major driver of the increase in export earnings from international tourism.

Tourism's $13.5 billion in export earnings has put it ahead of the dairy industry for the first time in five years as the visitor boom continues.

The Tourism Industry Association (TIA) said the figure, drawn from Statistics New Zealand data, was based on the estimated spend by all international visitors, plus airfares. It excluded international students studying here for more than 12 months.

Annual dairy exports totalled $13 billion for the year ended September 2015.

TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said tourism and dairying were both vital to the New Zealand economy, and the recent dramatic growth in international visitor spending highlighted tourism's important role.

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"Tourism was number one from the late nineties until 2010. Dairy then had its boom but is now experiencing a pull back."

The current upswing in tourism began in 2013 with the release of the first Hobbit movie providing an immediate boost, and since then tourism export earnings had grown by more than 40 per cent.

Roberts said there was every reason to expect this upward trajectory to continue through next year and the goal of increasing total tourism revenue to $41 billion a year by 2025 looked achievable.

The growth in earnings was due to the multitude of new air services being introduced, the lower New Zealand dollar, relatively cheap fuel prices and strong marketing campaigns.

"Over the last couple of years there's been a massive increase in the middle class in developing nations. These are people who're able to travel who five years ago wouldn't have been able to.

"In the last nine months the weakening of the New Zealand dollar has given an added boost because people plan their holidays in their home currency. With the weaker dollar they spend more in our currency when they get here. "

Roberts said the terrorist threat in other popular destinations such as the U.S and Europe could also have an impact here.

"New Zealand is perceived as one of the world's safest destinations so when people rule out going to other places, New Zealand tends to benefit. We need to retain that reputation of being a safe destination; it we lose it, one of our advantages is gone."

Roberts said tourism growth also brought challenges, one of which was the risk of overcrowding tourism hot spots.

Efforts to get visitors to come in spring and autumn and to visit the regions, rather than just traditional visitor attractions, are starting to pay off.

"The Chinese are getting around the country. Two years ago they were rarely seen out of Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch and Queenstown. Now they're turning up all around the country."

Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism head Tim Hunter said a lot of work had gone into getting tour groups to visit areas such as Kaikoura, Marlborough, Nelson and the West Coast.

"It has been a bit of a safety valve for Chinese tour groups who can't get group bookings in peak months. It's going to become even more important that we don't flog the main tourism spots, and that we get these secondary areas more international profile."

Canterbury regional accommodation statistics for international visitors were up about 10 to 12 per cent, said Hunter.

"That shows that although Christchurch has not fully recovered, the province has."

As well as the growing Chinese market, helped by the recent introduction of China Southern Airlines flights into Christchurch, the high value American market was up too.

"We're getting back to where we used to be, but we still have a lot of catching up to do because the rest of New Zealand is growing at a whopping rate."