Wellington - A record 1 million visitors from neighbouring Australia helped offset a slump in foreign tourist numbers to New Zealand as fears of swine flu compounded the effects of the global economic slowdown in the last year, according to official figures released Monday.

Visitor arrivals for the year ending May 31 totalled 2.4 million, 3 per cent down on the previous year, Statistics New Zealand reported.

While more Australians visited, there were substantial falls in the numbers arriving from New Zealand's next five biggest sources of tourists, Britain, the United States, South Korea, China and Japan.

May saw a 16-per-cent increase of 9,200 visitors from Australia, while numbers from Asia slumped - South Korea down 54 per cent, Japan 42 per cent and China 33 per cent - as the swine-flu pandemic spread.

The Health Ministry reported Monday that New Zealand has had more than 300 confirmed cases of swine flu, the majority experiencing mild to moderate symptoms.

It said the number was expected to rise rapidly, as in the rest of the world, but said most people recovered without requiring medical care. (dpa)