Regional Tourism Estimates data sources and methodology
This page has information about the data sources and methodology used for the Regional Tourism Estimates (2009–2015).
On this page
Data sources
The Regional Tourism Estimates (RTEs) were derived from 3 data sources:
- the Regional Tourism Indicators (RTIs)
- the International Visitor Survey (IVS)
- Stats NZ's Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).
The RTEs were based on the same electronic card transactions data as the RTIs, but were calibrated to match total tourism expenditure by industry from the TSA. They were also calibrated to reflect the distribution of international expenditure by visitors’ country of origin, as in the IVS.
Methodology paper
We developed a paper to help users understand how the RTEs are derived. The paper also contains key conceptual issues encountered, assumptions that were made and validation checks on the RTE results.
Regional Estimates of Tourism Expenditure — Method, concepts and results [PDF, 1.7 MB]
Impact of the 2015 TSA changes
Changes to the Tourism Satellite Account, and the International Visitor Survey, mean the 2015 Regional Tourism Estimates generally produced higher estimates of spending for the period 2009-2014 than previously published.
These papers describe the nature and impact of these changes:
The RTE methodology, described in the paper above, remains the same, with the exception of changes to some of the product categories. Changes to the product categories were implemented to improve the RTEs.
All users should discard earlier versions of the RTEs and re-download the new pivot tables and regional summaries:
RTEs superseded by MRTEs
Following a review of our tourism indicators in 2015, we developed the MRTEs (Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates) — combining the dollar value estimates from the RTEs with the monthly frequency of the RTIs — to give a dollar value estimate of spend in the regions based on a forecast of the RTEs. This produced some changes in the values for the RTEs.
The changes are largely definitional, and are summarised in the table on the Regional Tourism Indicators (RTIs) page.
One Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) particularly affected by the change is the Nelson/Tasman RTO. At the time of the change approximately $150 million was excluded due to the expenditure largely being identified as being from domestic commuters travelling between Nelson and Tasman.
See Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs) to view and download the current MRTEs.
RTE questions and answers
The document below has more information about the Regional Tourism Estimates, including data reliability and the difference between the RTEs and the IVS and RTIs.
Regional Tourism Estimates: Questions and answers, Nov 2015 [PDF, 244 KB]