Mount Maunganui's beaches continue to be the major tourism drawcard for the region according to Statistics New Zealand.

Both domestic and international holiday-makers are enjoying more of what the region has to offer, with guest nights for both groups on the rise.

Mount Maunganui's beaches are the region's biggest tourism asset according to Statistics New Zealand.

International guest nights increased by 22 per cent to 326,165 guest nights year on year, while domestic guests are up by 5.3 per cent to 1,009,332.

'The results will be music to the region's ears as we enter what we expect will be a fantastic peak season,” says Tourism Bay of Plenty General Manager Rhys Arrowsmith.

'Our work in the international market has certainly put us on the map as a destination in New Zealand worth visiting, and we've seen a marked increase in guests from overseas visiting our coastline and telling us that it lives up to the promise.

'We're also seeing the investment pay off for our domestic ‘Plenty for Everyone' marketing campaign that has been running over the last two years.

'We've had an incredible 12 months. A stand-out was being voted #1 for New Zealand and #4 in the South Pacific in the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards for beaches, with Mt Maunganui Beach taking the crown - which is a reflection of the whole region's outstanding offer.”

Statistics New Zealand's figures for the Bay of Plenty, as well as the Whakatane-Kawerau region, show Tourism Bay of Plenty's territories are outperforming traditional leaders such as Rotorua and Northland.

Ministry of Business Innovation and Economics figures reveal that domestic guests to the region remain the bigger spenders.

Guests are ploughing $585 million into the local economy, made up of $458M from domestic visitors and $127M from international visitors. The growth is 5.78 per cent year on year.

Statistics New Zealand's latest official figures for commercial accommodation are also showing strong growth with the combined region recording a 8.9 per cent growth in guest nights year-on-year in October 2014.

This is tracking well ahead of the national growth figure of 5.6 per cent. At 1,335,496 guest nights to October 14, the regions sit in seventh place nationally for annual guest nights.

In addition, key attractions in the region are showing strong visitor growth with a 38.2 per cent year-on-year increase to monitored attractions such as White Island tours, Comvita, Waimarino, Classic Flyers, Blokart Recreation Park and Kiwi 360.

The Bay of Plenty combined region is ranked sixth nationally by visitor spend after Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown, Christchurch and the Waikato.