"This looks like being another big year, and we're expecting close to 10 per cent growth," she said.
However, Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller noted the region was competing in a global marketplace.
"There are three key factors we need to consider if we want to keep on improving," he said.
One was the need to continue to promote, advertise and tell the stories about the Bay of Plenty. The second essential was the importance of having excellent products.
"The experiences people have here need to be increasingly developed and improved because we're in a global marketplace," he said. "Our offering has to be about more than just the incredible sense of place and space - we've got to have product that enhances and amplifies that."
The third crucial factor was to improve the accommodation provision.
"We've got some very good accommodation here. But for a city of our size, better accommodation is clearly the next step we need to embrace."
Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless said the latest data showed the region's tourism sector was doing many things right.
"The promotional work the government and Tourism Bay of Plenty have been doing all adds up," he said. "And you've got new ways of getting information out, so it's probably all making a difference."
However, Mr Brownless emphasised the industry needed to maintain a professional attitude.
"We have to recognise that when they come here, they want to be looked after, treated well and given good value for money. You have to provide a good experience overall."
Blair Anderson, director of the Waimarino Adventure Centre, said single independent travellers were now beginning to make up a bigger portion of overall tourist numbers.
"They are starting to discover the region," he said.
"Tourism Bay of Plenty has been supporting tourist businesses to travel and tell our story," he said. "That is starting to kick in and build some momentum."
Mr Anderson added that the Bay of Plenty needed to develop a wider range of activities, including those that were "placid" as opposed to adventure tourism.
"We need more cultural activities. And we need to need to also tailor to the older generation with interesting activities that don't [necessarily] require a lot of physical mobility."
Rotorua MP Todd McClay said the significant increase in tourism spending was fantastic news for the region and would continue to support job creation, growth and infrastructure upgrades.
"I'm very optimistic that 2017 will be another record year for tourism spending if the numbers continue to track this way."
Tourism Bay of Plenty's Kristin Dunne noted that Rotorua had excellent facilities for visitor information, with its visitor centre seeing around 1 million visitors a year.
"That's why we're advocating for a new visitor centre in Tauranga to help service people in the best way," she said. The Tauranga City Council has approved adding a new visitor centre at Coronation Park in Mount Maunganui to the next annual plan.
The current centre in Willow Stin the central business district had annual visitor numbers of around 125,000, she said, and was poorly located and not in the right environment for tourists.
[Factbox]
Bay of Plenty tourism spend to January 2017
-12 month growth: $1.736 billion (up 7%)
-January 2017 total: $232 million (up 5%):
