WELLINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Festive season celebrations drove retail spending on plastic cards to a monthly record in New Zealand last month, the government statistics agency said Friday.
Total retail spending using electronic cards was 6.5 billion NZ dollars (4.63 billion U.S. dollars) in December last year, up 5.8 percent from December 2015, according to Statistics New Zealand.
The largest industry increase came from hospitality, where spending was up 126 million NZ dollars (89.75 million U.S. dollars) or 13.4 percent.
"This is the first month card spending in hospitality exceeded 1 billion NZ dollars (712.3 million U.S. dollars)," business indicators manager Tehseen Islam said in a statement.
"The higher hospitality spending coincides with a period of rising international tourism and residents enjoying Christmas and New Year holiday breaks."
Core retail spending, which excludes the vehicle-related industries, fell by 0.8 percent in December 2016, after a 0.5-percent fall in November 2016.
