Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates’ history
On this page, we provide information about the history of Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs), the impact of COVID-19 to the MRTEs, the relationship with Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECTs), and the current MRTEs with the data provider.
On this page
MRTEs’ history chart
Text description of history chart
Regional Tourism Indicators (2012)
The Tourism Data Domain plan of 2011 identified that published regional indicators for tourism spend were not fit for purpose. This prompted the development of the Regional Tourism Indicators (RTIs) in 2012. The RTIs used an innovative approach to identify tourism spending from Electronic Card Transaction (ECT) data. The RTIs were published as an indicator series intended to provide tourism operators with a regional, timely guide to trends and patterns in tourism spending.
Regional Tourism Estimates (2013)
A major limitation of the RTIs was that they did not estimate actual dollar spend estimates. This led to the development of the Regional Tourism Estimates (RTEs) in 2013. The RTEs provided annual estimates of actual tourism spend using the RTIs, International Visitor Survey (IVS) and provisional data from the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).
Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (2016)
The Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs) were developed after a review of the RTIs and RTEs. The intent of the MRTEs was to estimate actual dollar spend on tourism at a regional level on a monthly frequency. The MRTEs indicate tourism’s contribution to the national and regional economies. The MRTEs estimates are based on tourism electronics card transaction, tourism satellite account data, and international visitor survey data.
Marketview Limited was appointed to supply the MRTE data from 2016.
More information about the MRTEs 2016 can be found here:
Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (2016 to 2020)
Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (2020)
Due to the unavailability of the International Visitor Survey data during the COVID-19 disruption, this series was discontinued. The Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECTs) have been an interim replacement for the MRTEs to understand high-level tourism expenditure trends rather than providing data that can be attributed to total tourism expenditure.
More information about the TECTs 2020 can be found here:
Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECTs)
Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (2023)
With the reopening of the border, the International Visitor Survey data is now available, and MRTEs are able to resume.
In July 2023, Stats NZ (Data Ventures) was selected to supply the MRTEs starting from November 2023 for September 2023 data.
This revision of the original MRTEs methodology aims to reinstate the attributable insights and information to tourism stakeholders across New Zealand, with additional improvements to the level of accuracy, resilience, and alignment with global standards.
More information about the current MRTEs 2023 can be found here:
Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (2023)[PDF, 1,964KB](external link) — Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre (TEIC)
MRTE resources
- Detailed methodology document [PDF, 1,964KB](external link) — TEIC
- MRTE Q&A sheet [PDF, 148KB](external link) — TEIC
- MRTE visualisations(external link) — TEIC
- Monthly data release(external link) — TEIC
- TEIC resources(external link) — TEIC
- MRTEs 2016-2020
MRTE data release calendar
Check upcoming scheduled tourism survey releases on our Data release calendar.