The number of Chinese people visiting New Zealand last month was the highest ever for the month of November, Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday.

Asian visitors are offsetting a slump in those coming from Europe, it said.

Almost 15,000 people from China came for short-term visits in November, exceeding the previous high three years ago. Annual visitors from China surpassed 120,000.

Overall, the annual number of visitors from Asia is above 450, 000, up nearly 15 percent on a year ago.

But the number of visitors from Europe, who tend to stay for longer, fell by 4 percent to 462,000.