New monthly estimates of tourism patterns in places such as Queenstown will help operators plan for growth. Photo: Getty Images
Regional tourism organisations have a new tool to help them better plan for growth with a monthly snapshot of visitor patterns, including how things have changed during the pandemic.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and Data Ventures worked together over the past couple of years to develop monthly estimates of unique local and visitor populations for each of 31 Regional Tourism Organisations (RTO), as well as national data.
The monthly unique regional population estimates, known as the MURPEs, were expected to help RTOs coordinate activities in their regions, alongside the tourism industry, stakeholders, iwi and communities.
The new data set draws information from mobile phone data provided by telecommunications companies, which would help ensure every person in a region was counted just once, regardless of how many times they appeared in a region or how long they stayed there.
"This data set will enable all regions in New Zealand to actually understand who's coming to their region," MBIE principal analyst Jack Warrington said.
He said it was "hugely important" that the data set began from January 2019 as it would help the tourism industry better understand regional visitor volumes pre- and post-Covid.
"It'll give the regions an understanding of how many visitors used to visit their region pre-Covid ... compared with post-Covid and what the recovery looks like in their region."
The data will estimate the number of international visitors in the country for less than one year, as well as those visiting for less than 90 days.
It will also count domestic visitors as distinct from local residents who have a primary or secondary home in any given region.
Warrington expected MURPEs would eventually be combined with other data, such as monthly spending using electronic cards, to help RTOs better understand what visitors spend their money on.
In the meantime, he said the data would help regions understand any gaps in their tourism infrastructure.