Tourism spending data for June 2018 released

Media release

26 June 2018

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

All regions achieved growth in tourism spending in the year ended June 2018. The fastest-growing regions were Gisborne (up 15.8 per cent), Canterbury (up 13.4 per cent) and Tasman (up 13.2 per cent). Each of these regions had experienced stronger-than-average spending in the summer peak in the latest year.

In Gisborne, international visitors spent $31 million over the year (up 19.6 per cent compared with the year to June 2017), and domestic tourists spent $127 million (up 14.9 per cent).

MBIE’s Manager of Sector Trends, Mark Gordon says, ‘One of the main drivers of the overall increase in regional tourism spending was an increase in expenditure on fuel and other automotive products, which grew on average 15.8 per cent over the year. The 10.5 per cent increase in petrol prices over the year would have contributed to this growth in fuel expenditure.’

Although annual spend has grown, June 2018 international visitor spend was down on last June. Mark Gordon says ‘This decrease can be attributed to the DHL Lion’s Series in June 2017 which saw higher than normal spending across all regions. UK spending in June 2018 was on average down more than half (51.3 per cent) compared with June 2017. The regions with the greatest monthly falls were Wellington, down 16.4 per cent in June 2018 compared with June 2017; Northland, down 15.3 per cent and Waikato, down 12.5 per cent.’

‘Improved tourism spending for the regions helps the tourism industry plan strategically by providing insight into where both domestic and international tourists are spending their money. We encourage the industry to use the information in their planning so we can continue to provide visitors to New Zealand with high-quality experiences.’ says Mr. Gordon.

View the full statistics from the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates.

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

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