The latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) today show that tourism expenditure grew in all regions over the year ending January 2018.

MBIE’s manager of Sector Trends Mark Gordon says that there has been positive performance in several regions around the country. This includes Marlborough now showing annual growth for the first time since April 2017.

“The regions with the fastest growing tourism spend over the year ending January 2018 were the West Coast, which increased 12% to $549 million, Tasman, which increased 12% per cent to $315 million, followed by Taranaki (up 10 per cent to $376 million) and Southland (up 9 per cent to $628 million),” Mr Gordon says.

“Tourism spending in Kaikōura has also continued to recover, with the spend in the month of January 2018 being 96% higher than in January 2017,” Mr Gordon says.

Mr Gordon says MBIE developed the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates in consultation with tourism industry representatives to create a better measurement of the value of tourism in the regions.

“Tourism spending information for the regions helps inform investment and planning in the tourism industry by providing insight into where both domestic and international tourists are spending their money,” Mr Gordon says.

A user guide providing information on how the estimates are calculated and how they should be interpreted is available here.

View the full statistics from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

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