WELLINGTON, June 23 -- A record number of overseas visitors arrived in New Zealand last month, led by arrivals from the United States and Japan, the government statistics agency announced Monday.

Visitor arrivals reached a high of 161,400 in May, the highest ever for a May month, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"Holiday-makers arriving from the United States and Japan contributed to the increase in visitors in May," Population Statistics Project manager Susan Hollows said in a statement.

In the year ending May, visitor arrivals numbered 2.78 million, up 6 percent from the May 2013 year, with the top four sources being Australia, China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

While arrivals from China were relatively flat last month, rising just 1.3 percent, the figures showed Chinese visitors were staying an average of 6.6 days in May, up more than 20 percent year on year, according to the government's Tourism New Zealand agency.

"For China we are continuing to see a positive change in the visitor mix, with most of the growth coming from independent travellers, rather than short stay group tours," Tourism New Zealand general manager of corporate affairs Chris Roberts said in a statement.