Tourism Data Leadership Group
The Tourism Data Leadership Group (TDLG) was established to facilitate the provision of consistent, reliable, and trusted tourism data and insights that enables improved understanding to support better decision making, long-term value gains and sustainability for the benefit of all New Zealanders.
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Strategic Business Plan 2024 – 2025
The Tourism Data Leadership Group’s (TDLG) 2-year Strategic Business Plan provides a blueprint for the immediate future of the tourism data system.
The Plan provides a clear roadmap for how the full $5 million of the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) committed to improving the tourism data system is to be spent. The Minister for Tourism and Hospitality has endorsed the plan.
The Plan primarily focuses on investing into foundational data gaps and working towards setting up appropriate oversight and stable funding. These actions will contribute towards the TDLG’s vision of a world-class tourism data system and will be largely implemented by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
In producing the Plan, the TDLG anticipate the improvements they are recommending will contribute to a range of longer-term outcomes. This includes thriving regions, in which there is good social licence for tourism, and consideration of environmental constraints.
Ara Whānui 2-year road map [PDF, 68 KB]
The finalised Plan considered feedback following the consultation on a draft version in early 2024. 19 submissions were received from a range of stakeholders across the tourism data system.
Summary of consultation feedback on draft Strategic Business Plan
Purposes and objectives
The purpose of the Group is to create a collaborative forum to identify information needs of the diverse set of tourism data user (industry, central and local government, communities, iwi, interest groups, academics, and commentators), communicate those needs to the wide range of stakeholders, and support the implementation of possible solutions, including the provision of data and insights to users.
The core purpose and key objectives of the Group are outlined in the Terms of Reference.
Tourism Data Leadership Group establishment and implementation phase
The TDLG was established in June 2022 following the 2019 Hui to facilitate the provision of consistent, reliable, and trusted tourism data and insights that enables better decision-making and understanding of long-term value gains and sustainability of the tourism sector. The Group in its first year (the establishment phase) focused on how it would operate and understanding sector context and needs. The phase has concluded at the end of May 2023.
As of May 2023, the Group is transitioning into a 2-year implementation phase, which includes the allocation of the funding. A business plan is in development and will be a priority for the group.
The Terms of Reference (TOR, refreshed) require appointments to be made again for the second phase. Download the refreshed Terms of Refences.
An appointment committee made up of one representative from Tourism Industry Aotearoa, New Zealand Māori Tourism, Regional Tourism Organisations New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, selected 2 co-chairs and 7 members. The committee made their decision based on a mix of skills, knowledge, experience and representation, as outlined in the Terms of Reference.
Membership
Steve Armitage (Chief Executive, Hospitality New Zealand) was appointed co-chair of the Group. Mr Armitage, whose tribal affiliation is Ngāpuhi is joined by 5 members who are all highly regarded in their respective fields and have a wealth of experience across academia, government and the tourism industry. The full group consists of the following membership:
| Member | Current position(s) |
|---|---|
| Steve Armitage, Group co-chair | Chief Executive, Hospitality New Zealand |
| Dr Susanne Becken | Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia |
| Justin Kimberley | Head of Business Growth, Insights and Innovation at Rotorua NZ |
| David Perks | Chair of Regional Tourism New Zealand (RTNZ) and GM for 'Takina' Commercial Development of Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre for Wellington City Council |
| Wiremu Stone Tribal affiliation: Ngāi Tahu and Ngātiwai |
Head of Shared Services, Company Secretary and Accountant for Whale Watch Kaikoura Limited |
| Bruce Bassett | Chief Advisor at Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) |
Keeping up to date with the TDLG
If you're interested in following the progress of TDLG and its work programme, please email the secretariat at tourismdataleadership@mbie.govt.nz or subscribe to the tourism data alerts mailing list.
Subscribe to tourism data alerts
Regular updates
Publications 2022 - 2023
The Tourism Data Leadership Group (TDLG) meet bi-monthly in Wellington, and online as needed to discuss on the strategic direction of tourism data & insight. All meeting minutes are available on request at tourismdataleadership@mbie.govt.nz.
The following documents have been published by the TDLG.
Interim Action Plan 2023
The Interim Action Plan presents the TDLG’s near term initiatives from the initial report (see below), while developing its strategy and investment approach that will be consulted in early 2024.
The Interim Action Plan signals to stakeholders the importance of delivering quality data in relation to Māori and tourism and regenerative tourism, and addressing key regional and domestic data gaps.
TDLG initial report
The initial report delivered in December 2022 outlines the key milestones the Group achieved in the first 6 months. The report also covers the state of the current tourism data system for context and an initial package of recommendations for the implementation phase of TDLG.
Read the Tourism Data Leadership Group Initial Report
The report was delivered to MBIE, and then to the Minister of Tourism in December 2022. It was also circulated to other government agencies for further feedback.
Read the summary of feedback for the TDLG report
MBIE has published this report to allow the industry to read the evaluation and recommendations produced by the TDLG. Subsequent feedback from industry will be updated here.
Survey
In October 2022, the TDLG conducted a short industry survey. Some of the key survey fundings were:
- Internal company systems are the most common primary source of data and insight (36%).
- Tourism New Zealand is the most common secondary source (56%).
- Combining primary and secondary data sources, internal systems, Tourism New Zealand, and Tourism Industry Aotearoa were all used by over 50% of respondents.
- On average, people were 6.1 out of 10 satisfied with the publicly available tourism data and insights, with timeliness getting the lowest score of 5.7 out of 10.
- Not surprisingly, larger businesses are more confident about their ability to interpret the data.
- Four suggested areas for improvement stood out.
- When asked what one change they could make to the tourism data system, the top choice was centralised data.
The 4 most notable areas for suggested improvement were:
- Regional tourism volumes and flows
- International arrivals and spend forecasts
- Visitor profile modelling
- Regional tourism forecasts
Read the full results of the survey:
Tourism Data Leadership Group Industry Survey – Key findings [PDF 566KB]
The survey provides a useful input to the broader work programme of the Tourism Data Leadership Group which is now included in the TDLG's initial report.