New Zealanders' spending on travel in their own country rose by 14 percent last year and the number of domestic journeys increased by 13 percent, the Ministry of Economic Development announced Tuesday.

"The latest figures show a big surge in spending on domestic travel over the past year," ministry tourism research and evaluation manager Peter Ellis said in the release of the ministry 's Domestic Travel Survey.

"Spending rose 14 percent to 9.8 billion NZ dollars (8.07 billion U.S. dollars). The number of trips taken by domestic travelers also increased, up 13 percent to 50 million," Ellis said in a statement.

"The increase can be largely attributed to more people travelling to visit friends and relatives, or making business trips."

Business travelers made a total of 14.1 million trips, a 31 percent increase from the previous year, while those traveling to visit friends and family made a total of 16.6 million trips, up 12 percent.

While the average expenditure per trip showed little change, spending on transport was up 17 percent to 3.4 billion NZ dollars, followed by food and beverages, which was up 13 percent to 2.6 billion NZ dollars.

In contrast, figures from Statistics New Zealand showed a 0.7 percent drop in total guest nights last year, largely driven by a decrease in travelers staying in hotels.

The Domestic Travel Survey is an annual phone survey of 15,000 New Zealand residents conducted throughout the year.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed international trips by New Zealand residents last year were up 3 percent to 2.09 million. By country, with the leading increases to Thailand (up 8,300), the Cook Islands (up 7,300), the United States (up 5,400) and Singapore (up 5,300).

Australia was the most common destination, accounting for almost half of all overseas trips by New Zealand residents. The 974,300 trips to Australia in 2011 was similar to the 976,300 trips in 2010.