WELLINGTON - A rising number of Chinese visitors helped drive a surge in New Zealand's accommodation sector in March, according to figures from the government statistics agency Wednesday.

Guest nights at commercial accommodation in March were up 12.3 percent year on year, said Statistics New Zealand.

"Guest nights for March were boosted by an early Easter and increased visitor arrivals, and are the highest recorded for any March month," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.

"Easter this year was in March, whereas last year it was in April. Guest nights have been rising for the last two years."

Domestic guests nights were up 11.5 percent and international guest nights were up 13.2 percent.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed holiday-makers from China helped drive a record number of overseas visitors in March.

Total visitor arrivals reach a new March record of 344,400, up 18 percent from March last year, with arrivals from China up by 9,600 to 40,400, making it the second largest source country after Australia, from where 133,300 visitors arrived.