WELLINGTON - The number of visitors to New Zealand hit a record 2.96 million in the year ending April, driven by a record number of Chinese arrivals, the government statistics agency said Thursday.

The total number of visitors was up 7 percent from the April 2014 year, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"The annual number of visitors from China topped 300,000 for the first time," population statistics manager Vina Cullum said in a statement.

"The 302,100 visitor arrivals from China in the April 2015 were up 26 percent from the previous year. Most of this increase was holidaymakers."

China is New Zealand's second biggest source country for visitors, after Australia.

Total visitor arrivals in the month of April were up 6 percent year on year to 238,000, with the biggest increases from China and the United States.

Visitors from China numbered 31,000, the highest-ever for an April month.