Hon Paula Bennett

Associate Minister of Tourism

16 June 2016
New tourism data supports regional growth

New monthly data which estimates how much tourists are spending by region will help both industry and communities better plan for the future, Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

The first Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates has been released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in response to calls from tourism industry stakeholders who wanted more usable and accurate statistics for regional tourism spending. It replaces the Regional Tourism Indicators.

“This new data provides an estimated dollar figure for how much international and domestic tourists are spending in each region, which is vital to help inform planning and investment for the tourism industry,” Mrs Bennett says.

The first data released in this new series estimates tourism spend which can be allocated to regions to be $2 billion for April 2016 (up 4 per cent from April 2015). International visitors contributed $740 million (up 10 per cent) and domestic tourists contributed $1.2 billion (up 1 per cent).

“Tourism adds significant value to the New Zealand economy, and the Government is working to ensure that all regions are benefiting. The tourism sector asked for this information so it’s great to see MBIE now rolling it out.”

View the full statistics from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates here:http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/tourism/tourism-research-data/monthly-regional-tourism-estimates

The data is also available on the new Tourism Dashboardhttp://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/tourism/tourism

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